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THE FRIGATE 



CONSTITUTION 

THE CENTRAL FIGURE OF THE 
NAVY UNDER SAIL 



BY 



lEA N. HOLLIS 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

1900 

L ■ 



80506 

Library of Con^reaa 

Two Co^'ies RE(:€ivf.o 
NOV 26 1900 

. Cfj>y right entry 

SECOND COPY 

0e<lv6fed to 
OROeH DIVISION 

DEC 101900 






COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY IRA N. IIOLLIS 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 




THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 



PREFACE 

The history of the Frigate Constitution is un- 
dertaken in order to bring within the pages of one 
volume all the events which go to make a long and 
interesting career upon the sea. It is the outgrowth 
of a short article for the " Atlantic Monthly " to 
commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the 
vessel's launch. She has so long been a favorite 
topic for storytellers and writers that nothing new 
remains to be told. It is rather a case for recall- 
ing much that has been forgotten. As the forma- 
tion and service of the sailing navy supply the 
background which brings our ship into stronger 
perspective, all the circumstances which had an in- 
fluence upon her design, construction, and employ- 
ment are given. While, therefore, in no sense a 
history of the Navy, it forms a reasonably con- 
nected narrative of naval events, and particularly 
of our good old frigate. The principal authorities 
for the whole career of the Constitution are the 
American State Papers, the ship's logbooks, the 
reports of commanding officers, and various naval 



iv PREFACE 

biograpMes. Cooper's *' History of the Navy," 
Goldsborougli's *' Naval Chronicle," Eoosevelt's 
"History of the War of 1812," and several admi- 
rable articles by Mr. J. R. Soley have been con- 
sulted and used. It hardly seems necessary to 
acknowledge indebtedness for tales and minor 
details which have been common property for half 
a century. This volume was prepared during the 
summer of the Spanish War, when the writer 
watched with pride and solicitude the service of 
his former comrades who have worthily main- 
tained the traditions of the Old Navy. With the 
hope of making clearer the relation of the sailor 
to the country and of stimulating the interest in 
rebuilding the ship, it is now given to the public. 

IRA N. HOLLIS. 
Cambridge, September 19, 1900. 



CONTENTS 

CHAP. PAGE 

I. Introduction — Frigates as the Cruisers of 

THE Sailing Navies 1 

II. The Establishment of the United States 

Navy 24 

III. Description, Armament, and Crew of the Con- 

stitution 34 

IV. Construction and First Service of the Con- 

stitution 47 

V. War with Tripoli — Edward Preble .... 71 
VI. Conclusion of the War with Tripoli — Ser- 
vice IN the Mediterranean 93 

VII. Outbreak of the War of 1812 121 

VIII. Escape of the Constitution from a British 

Squadron 141 

IX. Destruction of the Frigate Guerriere . . 156 
X. Destruction of the Java — Cruise under Stew- 
art 177 

XI. Capture of the Cyane and Levant .... 196 
XII. Cruises and Incidents Subsequent to the War 

OF 1812 216 

XIII. What we owe to the Constitution .... 241 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

/ PAGE 

The Frigate Constitution. After the painting by Mar- 
shall Johnson, published and copyrighted in 189G by A. 
W. Elson & Co., Boston Frontispiece 

A Sloop-of-Wak. From Miles's Epitome 4 

British Line-of-Battle-Ship. From Fincham's History 
of Naval Architecture 10 

Ordnance of 1800 20 

Brass howitzer captured from Tripoli, now in Annapolis. 

From Maclay's History of the Navy. 
Long Gun. From Lloyd and Hadcock's Gunnery. 
Carronade from the Constitution. From Spear's History 
of our Navy. 

Deck-Plan of a Ship on Starboard Tack 23 

Gun-Drill on Board Ship 30 

Training. From Jerningham's Ships' Broadsides. 
Firing. From Robinson's British Fleet. 

Sections of War- Vessels 38 

Sloop-of-War. From Roosevelt's The Naval War of 1812. 
Frigate. From Charnock's History of Marine Archi- 
tecture. 

The Modkl of the Constitution. From a photograph 
copyrighted in 1897 by Martha H. Harvey. The model 
was given by Commodore Hull in 1813 to the Museum of 
Peabody Academy of Sciences, Salem, Mass 44 

Sail- Plan of the Frigate Constitution, 1817. By per- 
mission of " The Rudder " 52 




,1 



viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Constitution Ready for Launching. From a photo- 
graph 58 

The Launching of the Constitution. From a photo- 
graph 64 

William Bainbkidge. After the painting by J. W. Jarvis 72 
Edward Preble. After the painting in Faneuil Hall, 

Boston 80 

Mediterranean Ports 87 

Interior of the Frigate Constitution, 1900 .... 88 
Ward-Room. 
Gun-Deck. 
Berth-Deck. 

The above three illustrations are from photographs from 
the Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Depart- 
ment, Washington. 

Tripoli Harbor 97 

Attack on Fortifications and Gunboats at Tripoli. 
From the painting at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, 

Md 100 

Medal voted by Congress to Commodore Edward 
Preble, to commemorate the Naval Operations 
against Tripoli. From Loubat's Medallie History of the 

United States 108 

Tripoli Fortifications. From a sketch by Henry Wads- 
worth, in possession of Mrs. Elizabeth F. Wells . . . .111 
Man-of-War Ketch. From Old Sea- Wings . . . . . 113 

Corsair. From Spear's United States Navy 119 

Charles Morris. From the original painting by Ary 

Scheffer 130 

Isaac Hull. From the painting in the rooms of the Bos- 
tonian Society, Old State House, Boston, owned by Parker 

C. Chandler, Esq 140 

Location of Battles between the Constitution and 
British Frigates, and the Escapes from pursuing 
Fleets 146 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix 

Escape of the Constitution off the New Jersey 
Coast. After a painting-. A photograph is in the Ward- 
Rooin of the Frigate Constitution 148 

Constitution approaching the Guerriere before the 
Action. From the painting at the U. S. Naval Academy, 
Annapolis, Md 156 

Diagram of Action between the Constitution and 
THE Guerriere 159 

Handing up Powder. From Douglas's Naval Gunnery . 161 

Action between the Constitution and the Guerriere. 
From the original painting- by Marshall Johnson, in posses- 
sion of Benjamin F. Stevens, Esq 162 

Action between the Constitution and the Guerri^ire 
(the end). From the painting at the U. S. Naval Academy, 
Annapolis, Md 170 

Medal voted by Congress to Captain Isaac Hull, to 
commemorate the Capture of the Guerriere. From 
Loubat's Medallic History of the United States .... 174 

Diagram of Action between the Constitution a^d 
THE Java 179 

Action between the Constitution and the Java (after 
one hour) 186 

Escape of the Constitution into Marblehead Harbor 191 

Action between the Constitution and the Java (near 
the end). From an engraving in the Rooms of the Military 
Historical Society of Massachusetts. 

The above two pictures were drawn and etched by Pocock 
from sketches by Lieutenant Buchanan, and dedicated 
by permission to the Right Honorable The Lords Com- 
missioners of the Admiralty 194 

Medal voted by Congress to Captain William Bain- 
bridge, to commemorate the Capture of the Java. 
From Loubat's Medallic History of the United States . . 198 

Diagram of Action between the Constitution and 
the Cyane and Levant 199 



X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Charles Stewart. From the painting in U. S. Naval 
Academy, Annapolis, Md 204 

Diagram of the Escape of the Constitution from 
British Fleet at Port Praya 211 

Medal voted by Congress to Charles Stewart, to com- 
memorate THE Capture of the Cyane and Levant. 
From Loubat's Medallic History of the United States . . 214 

Figureheads of the Frigate Constitution 222 

Andrew Jackson, and a Billet, at Naval Academy, Annapo- 
lis, Md. 

The Frigate Constitution at the Boston Navy Yard, 
1900 (stern view) 232 

Gun-Deck of the Frigate Constitution, 1900 .... 236 

Frigate Constitution at the Boston Navy Yard, 1900 

(bow view) 240 

The above three illustrations are from photographs from 
the Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Depart- 
ment, Washington. 

The Constitution in a Gale off the Island of Tristan 
d'Acunha. From the painting by Marshall Johnson, in 
the possession of Benjamin F. Stevens, Esq 248 



THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION — FRIGATES AS THE CRUISERS OF 
THE SAILING NAVIES 

The events connected with the life of a nation 
are often intimately associated with objects and 
places. These have a permanent value, preserv- 
ing for us, if we do not neglect them, the out- 
ward semblance they presented to the men and 
women who gave them their places in history. The 
importance of Bunker Hill, of Independence Hall, 
and, more recently, of Gettysburg, as sources of 
inspiration to the youth of this republic can hardly 
be overestimated. They express the true spirit of 
liberty and the love of country even better than 
the noblest writings. Among the objects that 
must always be dear to the American people is the 
old ship Constitution, now lying neglected under 
a temporary roof at the Boston Navy Yard. Her 
career, outside of its historic value, is eventful and 



2 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

romantic. No ship has ever seen more life and 
action. 

The first twenty years of her existence were filled 
with events of the greatest importance to the new 
nation formed on this side of the Atlantic. She 
came at a period when we sorely needed a strong 
arm to vindicate for the second time our right to 
independence and to the untrammeled development 
of our own institutions. Her victories did much 
to teach a few scattered colonies, or states, respect 
for themselves and faith in their own united 
strength. Perhaps more than all else she stands 
to-day for the freedom of the seas. Around her 
are woven the memories of our great sailors, many 
of whom obtained their early training upon her 
decks. Her history is almost a history of the 
Navy during its most critical period, and she has 
survived to us the heirloom of a glorious past, 
which cannot be forgotten so long as her wooden 
walls stand firm. She holds a place as a repre- 
sentative of the days of sails, and is one of the 
finest examples of the wooden frigate at its best. 
As a type in marine warfare her class was the 
flower of the sailing period ; and although sails 
were soon to be superseded, there was still time 
for her victories to work great changes in European 
navies. Her model and armament were copied by 
England before the War of 1812 had closed, as it 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 3 

was imperative to build something that could over- 
take and destroy her. In her day, the organization 
of men to manoeuvre and fight ships had reached a 
high state of perfection. It is probable that we 
shall never find crews better adapted by nature to 
contend with the sea, or better fitted by training 
to carry their ships into distant seas and fight 
them, than were the seamen on the decks of the old 
Constitution. Soon after she was launched, experi- 
ments on the steam propulsion of vessels demon- 
strated the power of the steam-engine, and the 
first voyage of the Clermont inaugurated changes 
which have taken place with increasing rapidity, 
and have relegated the armed sailing-vessel to a past 
already growing hazy to the young men of the Navy. 
In another generation there will be few of them 
who have ever served on a sailing-ship, except 
for a short time by way of practice. This story is 
written, therefore, with the hope of keeping alive 
the interest in our old ships and in the sailors 
who contributed with their lives to the welfare of 
their country. It has been written and rewritten 
in naval histories, too often simply as a chronicle 
of triumphs calculated to exalt American pride. 
While her victories were real, their influence upon 
the march of events was moral, and they gather 
their greatest value from the lessons they have 
taught. The events of the early history of the 



4 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Navy are so closely interwoven that it becomes 
difficult to select from many things only those 
which have a direct bearing upon the career of the 
Constitution. The line is, therefore, not closely 
drawn, in order that the conditions under which 
her work was done may be clearly understood. 

The sailing-frigates occupied in the old navies 
much the same place as the cruisers of modern 
times. They were what Nelson called " the eyes 
of the fleet," and often served as scouts to watch 
the movements of the enemy. Before the inven- 
tion of the telegraph and the steam-engine, cam- 
paigns were relatively much longer. The where- 
abouts of a ship, or of a fleet, could not always 
be ascertained during the course of a reasonable 
cruise ; and even when positively known, a hos- 
tile meeting might be indefinitely postponed by 
adverse winds. Two fleets might dodge each other 
for months. Fast frigates formed the natural look- 
outs and auxiliaries in fleet service. They were 
sent out to bring back to an appointed rendezvous 
all the information that could be secured by scour- 
ing the seas and speaking every merchant-vessel 
brousfht within hail. To increase effectiveness in 
this service, the hulls of frigates were made large 
enough to carry a great spread of canvas, and the 
lines were drawn relatively fine, so that they could 
outsail anything afloat. They also carried batteries 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 5 

capable of destroying all armed craft except line- 
of-battle-ships. As commerce-destroyers they were 
very useful. 

At the time the Constitution was built, three 
classes of ships formed the bulk of most navies, 
— sloops, frigates, and line-of -battle-ships. They 
usually carried three masts with square sails, and 
were distinguished by the number of decks hav- 
ing complete batteries, although the nomenclature 
was not always applied alike by different writers, 
and the rating was not a reliable indication of a 
ship's 2)ower. The term " sloop " had a technical 
meaning when applied to armed vessels. In ordi- 
nary use, it signified a single-masted fore-and-aft- 
rigged vessel carrying a jib ; but in the Navy the 
name was also applied to vessels with all their guns 
on the upper deck. A brig, or a schooner, might 
belong to this class by virtue of carrying the guns 
on one deck. At the beginning of the century a 
sloop-of-war, or corvette, mounted from eighteen 
to thirty guns on the spar-deck ; sometimes with 
part of the battery on a raised quarter-deck and 
forecastle. The Levant, captured by the Constitu- 
tion in 1815, was a typical sloop. She had on a 
single deck eighteen 32-pound carronades, two long 
9-pounders, and one shifting 12-pounder. This 
battery is characteristic, and indicates the usual 
armament of the sloop in the old navies. 



6 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION 

The frigate was always ship-rigged, and carried 
guns on two decks, the main or gun-deck having 
a complete battery, and the upper or spar-deck 
having guns only on the forward and after parts. 
The waists seldom mounted any guns. At first 
the power of a frigate was correctly indicated by 
the number of guns, as a thirty-six, or a forty-four 
gun ship ; but after the invention of the carronade 
much confusion arose, as many guns were added to 
ships without change in their classification. The 
old batteries were usually from twenty-six to thirty 
long 18-pounders on the gun-deck, and from six 
to twelve long guns of lighter calibre on the upper 
deck. The size and shape of the hull precluded a 
heavy battery on the spar-deck, on account of top- 
heaviness and consequent danger of capsizing. 
The introduction of the carronade in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century supplied the Navy 
with large-calibre guns weighing very much less 
than the old guns. They were not so effective at 
long ranges, but they quickly replaced long guns 
on the upper decks of frigates, wholly or in part ; 
and, in most cases, ports were cut to mount addi- 
tional carronades. Thus a thirty-eight-gun frigate 
often carried forty-nine guns, and all classes of 
vessels had from eight to twelve more guns than 
they rated. The gun-deck battery remained prac- 
tically the same, with some increase in weight after 
the experience with the American frigates. 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 7 

Line -of -battle -ships, as their name indicates, 
were intended to take the shock of battle between 
fleets. They carried guns on three or more decks. 
Two of these decks had full batteries, usually of 
thirty long guns, and carronades were placed on 
the quarter-deck and the forecastle. The smallest 
line-of-battle-ship was so vastly superior to an 
ordinary frigate that a captain in command of the 
latter was entirely justified in declining an action 
with the former. It was easy to escape, as the line- 
of-battle-ship was heavy and clumsy under sail. 
Nor was there any discredit in surrendering a 
sloop to a frigate, as few commanders would risk 
the lives of their men in so unequal a contest. 
The nomenclature* was often misleading, however, 
as vessels in the same class varied greatly in power. 
At one end of the scale there were frigates carrying 
thirty-four guns, which fired a broadside of four 
hundred and fifty-four pounds, as opposed, at the 
other end, to frigates delivering from seven to eight 
hundred pounds in one broadside. Similar state- 
ments aj^ply to sloops and line-of-battle-ships. 
Modern types differ almost as much, and the term 
" cruiser," nowadays, includes vessels of vastly dif- 
ferent power and speed. Yet commanding officers 
of the old Navy felt a certain obligation to fight 
ships of their own rating, and were sometimes 
beaten by being outclassed. Some of the English 



8 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

writers complained bitterly that we had deceived 
them at the outset of the War of 1812, because our 
frigates were superior to theirs, forgetting that the 
term " frigate " was a very elastic one, and referred 
only to the method of placing the guns. 

In comparing the actual sizes of ships, arbitrary 
rules for measuring tonnage were adopted by dif- 
ferent governments. The first law of Congress 
was taken from the merchant-service, which aimed 
mainly at the cargo-carrying capacity. The rule 
is given here, although somewhat technical, to 
show that the tonnage had no fixed relation to 
the displacement of a ship. "Measure from the 
fore part of the main stem to the after part of 
the stern post above the upper deck ; take the 
breadth thereof at the broadest part above the 
main wales, one half of which breadth shall be 
counted the depth ; deduct from the length three 
fifths of such breadth ; multiplying the remain- 
der by the breadth and the product by the 
depth ; divide by 95 : the quotient is the tonnage." 
The English had a similar rule, which gave a 
smaller result than ours by fully fifteen per cent. 
Even had the tonnage worked out the same for 
two different ships by either rule, the contents 
would not necessarily have been alike, on account 
of a difference in the lines. No reliance can be 
placed on comparisons based upon the earlier meas- 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 9 

urements, but a later act of Congress placed the 
whole subject on a better footing. Fortunately, 
the question of tonnage was of very little impor- 
tance in actual warfare except that it gave a rough 
idea of the space for handling guns, berthing the 
crew, and storing provisions, ammunition, and 
water. 

The guns were mounted in crude wooden car- 
riages formed by two brackets or sides joined to- 
gether at the ends by crosspieces called transoms. 
They were elevated and depressed by means of 
handspikes placed under the breech, which always 
had preponderance over the muzzle, and a wedge 
served to hold the gun at the proper elevation. 
The same handspikes were also used in training the 
gun horizontally forward and aft with the aid of 
side-tackles. Breech-ropes secured to eye-bolts in 
the hull passed through a jaw in the rear end of 
the gun to limit the recoil ; and several tackles 
served for hauling out or holding the gun in any 
position on deck. The rolling and pitching of a 
ship in a seaway immensely complicated the pro- 
blem of loading and aiming, and the selection of 
the proper moment for firing demanded great judg- 
ment. During the discharge, the gun and carriage 
were thrown violently inboard, and, if the inclina- 
tion of the deck happened to assist the recoil, 
there was danger of pulling out the bolts which 



10 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

held the ropes and tackles. A heavy gun broken 
loose from its fastenings during action was likely 
to prove an ugly customer in a seaway ; more dan- 
gerous, perhaps, than the batteries of an enemy. 
This accident was by no means uncommon. It 
occurred a number of times on English frigates, 
and was usually credited to decayed timbers. 

During the War of 1812, the British had no 
regulated sights for their guns, and they suffered 
by comparison with the Americans, who were clever 
enough to provide fair substitutes for the modern 
sight-bar. In some cases tubes were placed along 
the tops of the guns, with adjustments for various 
elevations or distances. The height of the decks 
above water level also liad an important bearing 
upon the fighting qualities of a ship. Other things 
being equal, the vessel with the higher decks had 
the advantage in a rough sea. Cases have been 
known where line-of-battle-ships could not use 
their lower-deck guns at all, thus reducing them 
practically to frigates in power. In the battle 
between the Wasp and the Frolic, the former 
rolled her lee sides to the muzzles of the guns. It 
was therefore important in construction to place 
the decks as far as practicable above the wato 
line, and to design the ships with special reference 
to a steady gun-platform. As will be seen, the 
American frigates were superior to the British in 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 11 

these respects ship for ship, until the latter began 
to improve on the Constitution class. 

When a sailing-vessel went into action she 
usually carried the wind abeam, and the pressure 
on the sails tended to steady her, but it gave her a 
list to leeward, and the ship to windward conse- 
quently rolled deeply towards her opponent and 
exposed her decks to shot, while, on the other 
hand, the ship to leeward lifted her sides high out 
of water and exposed her hull. If a shot pene- 
trated near the normal water line and the com- 
mander found it expedient to tack, he immediately 
brought the hole below water on the lee side and 
was in danger of filling. Under any circumstances, 
men were called away from their duties to work 
the pumps or to plug the hole. The ship to wind- 
ward had another advantage. The slope of the 
deck was toward the target, and the guns were 
forced to slide uphill in recoiling, thus lessening 
the strain on the tackles. Another consideration 
in connection with the windward side, or the 
weather gauge, as it was called, related to choice 
of time and position. A vessel with the weather 
gauge could run down and engage her antagonist 
at any time, or she might by heading to windward 
postpone action to a favorable moment. When 
two ships approached each other with hostile intent, 
their commanders usually manoeuvred for advan- 



12 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

tage. Each tried to get to windward of the other, 
and to reach a position from which his enemy could 
be raked by a whole broadside. Raking consisted 
in placing a ship at right angles to the course of an- 
other vessel, either directly astern or ahead and 
firing lengthwise of her decks. There were more 
chances of striking the masts and rigging in that 
position than when training across an enemy's 
deck. The ship which was being raked had the 
serious disadvantage of being able to bring only a 
few bow or stern guns to bear upon an opponent. 
The first object of American officers seems to have 
been to cut away an enemy's masts and rigging, 
thus enabling them to take a raking position. 

The percussion cap was not invented until after 
the War of 1812. Before its introduction on board 
ship, guns were fired by means of a flint lock or a 
match. In the latter case, the powder and shot 
were rammed home through the muzzle, and a wire 
was run down the vent to pierce the powder car- 
tridge ; then - a powder-horn was turned into the 
vent and a train laid. When the moment to fire 
a-rrived, the train was lighted by the match. All of 
this required time. We do not wonder, therefore, 
that American officers expected to expend many 
shots in practice for the purpose of acquiring the 
skill to obtain one hit against an enem3^ Guns 
were fired preferably in broadside instead of singly. 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 13 

and the battery was aimed in converging lines in 
order to concentrate the fire as much as possible. 
By aiming at the water line near a mast, the shot 
had three chances ; if too low, it might ricochet 
on the water and strike the hull ; if too high, it 
might bring down a mast ; while, if it struck the 
point aimed at, the hull was injured in a vital part. 
There were three types of guns, the long gun, 
the carronade, and the columbiad. The long gun, 
which had been in use for several centuries, was 
cast very heavy. Its length and the weight of 
powder charge insured the maximum range and 
penetration possible at that time. The dimensions 
of the 18 and 24-pounders were 5^0% inches and 
5y^Q^Q inches in bore respectively, and upwards of 
nine or nine and one half feet in length. The 
powder charge was not far from six pounds, and 
the range with an elevation of one degree was 
about six hundred yards. On account of their 
great weight, these guns were placed as low as pos- 
sible in the ship. The carronade, which took its 
name from the town of Carron, where it was first 
made, was much lighter. A 32-pounder had a bore 
of 6^ inches and a length of four feet, and the 
muzzle was cast comparatively thin. The charge 
of powder was only 2 J pounds, and the range at 
an elevation of one degree was three hundred and 
eighty yards. The effect of the heavier shot was 



14 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

more that of a battering-ram, and it was used at 
close quarters to knock in the sides of a ship rather 
than to penetrate. The lightness of this gun gave 
it a place on the highest deck, where it did not 
seriously reduce the stability. The columbiad was 
between the long gun and the carronade in size. 
As there is no record of its use on the Constitu- 
tion or by any of her opponents in war, it is not 
necessary to describe it here. 

The different types of guns were never equiva- 
lent in their effects, as a large shot fired with a 
low velocity might have the same energy as a small 
shot with a high velocity and yet produce a very 
different result. It is therefore extremely difficult 
to compare the power of two ships unless their bat- 
teries were composed of the same types of guns. 
The long gun always possessed an advantage over 
the others, as it could be used outside of the range 
of carronades and columbiads. Besides the great 
advantage of being able to cripple an antagonist 
before coming to close quarters, a ship armed with 
superior long guns could load and fire more delib- 
erately. On the other hand, the carronade could 
be handled more quickly, and was accounted more 
available at short range. Mr. Roosevelt, in his 
" History of the War of 1812," says that a long 
12-pounder, an 18-pound columbiad, and a 32-pound 
carronade were almost equivalent to one another. 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 15 

The projectiles in common use were solid shot, 
shrapnel, canister, bar shot, and chain shot. The 
weight of the shot was not accurately given. On 
account of the spherical shape, it was purposely 
made to fit loosely in the gun, so that imperfec- 
tions in manufacture could not cause it to stick 
in the bore. A slight variation in size or den- 
sity made no difference ; consequently an eighteen- 
pound shot might weigh nineteen pounds and a 
twenty-four-pound shot only twenty-three pounds. 
As a matter of fact, there is good ground for 
believing that American shot was usually under 
weight, and that French shot was over weight, 
while the English were commonly accurate in their 
sizes and weights. Explosive shells with percus- 
sion fuses did not come in until long after the 
period of the Constitution's greatest usefulness ; 
nevertheless, the crews often suffered severely from 
flying splinters. A heavy shot striking a timber, 
or a wooden projection, was likely to shiver it and 
throw pieces in all directions. The gun-carriages 
themselves, being of wood, formed a great element 
of danger if struck. 

A good estimate of the distance, or range, was 
vital to success unless ships were within pistol-shot 
of each other. For long ranges, the shot rose high 
in the air and fell at a plunging angle as if fired 
at a target lying horizontal, and it was therefore 



16 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

necessary to know accurately the distance of this 
target. There were several methods of obtaining 
this distance by the help of a sextant. One of 
them depended upon knowing the height of the 
enemy's masts and by using their angular elevation 
in connection with a mathematical table. Another 
method consisted in treating the ship as the base 
of a horizontal triangle, of which the enemy formed 
the apex. The two base angles were measured 
simultaneously and the triangle constructed. These 
measurements were so crude and unsatisfactory that 
an engagement almost always terminated at short 
range where the exact distance was unimportant. 
The present method of taking the angle from the 
horizon down to the water line of a target and find- 
ing the distance from a table constructed for that 
purpose did not become common in the Constitu- 
tion's day. 

As ships often came to close quarters for the 
purpose of fighting their battles by a hand to hand 
encounter on deck, the crews were armed with 
pistols and cutlasses. These, with boarding-pikes 
placed in convenient racks, formed the best weapons 
for boarding an enemy, or for repelling boarders, 
when attacked. A few men of every gun's crew 
were detailed for this service, and they were called 
away by the sound of a large rattle. The marines 
were armed with muskets and stationed in places 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 17 

most effective for picking off officers and men. 
Several men were placed in every top. It was 
from a ship's top that Nelson was killed at Trafal- 
gar, and that Captain Lambert was mortally 
wounded in the action between the Constitution 
and the Java. 

Ships usually went into action under topsails, 
topgallant-sails, jib and spanker ; the courses, the 
lowest square sails, were hauled up, and the light 
sails overhead were furled. Sometimes the topgal- 
lant-sails were also furled, and in squally weather 
the heavy sails were reefed. The clews, or lower 
corners of the square sails, were stopped to the 
yards to keep the sails spread in case the sheets 
were shot away, and the yards were hung in slings 
for greater security. The pumps were rigged and 
every precaution was taken against fire and water. 
Tubs of water were placed in the channels, and 
the decks were thoroughly wet down and sanded to 
make the footing secure. Ammunition was collected 
near the guns. The men went to their stations at 
the beat of a drum, a certain number to each gun, 
and a few to look after the general management of 
the ship under sail. The members of the guns' 
crews were numbered, and every number had speci- 
fied duties for all emergencies that might arise. 
At a given signal certain men were called away 
from the guns to extinguish fire, to trim sails, to 



18 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

repair rigging and spars, to repel boarders, or to 
board another ship, depending upon the demands 
of the occasion. In the midst of a scene of appar- 
ently indescribable confusion, there was really the 
most perfect order, as every man in a crew of four 
or five hundred knew and could recite his duties 
for every contingency of ordinary cruising or 
action. 

Many of the old sailing-vessels were overcrowded, 
and men lived almost like kenneled dogs. Each 
enlisted man had only twenty-two ifiches by eight 
feet of deck room for his hammock, and that on an 
unventilated deck near the water line. Air could 
be obtained only by means of canvas ducts, or 
windsails, hoisted to catch the passing breeze. 
Some commanders, like Captain Porter, permitted 
the men to sleep on the gun-deck, and thus gave 
them more breathing-space, but this practice was 
not prescried by the navy regulation. The officers 
had bunks in the after part of the ship, where there 
was more room, but even they must have suffered 
from overcrowding. The quarters in the lower 
part of the Constitution are unventilated, and it 
would seem impossible to live in them over night ; 
yet men managed to occupy them and to enjoy life 
on board ship. Some conception of the limited 
space for the crew is afforded by the relative dimen- 
sions of the Constitution and a modern battleship. 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 19 

The crews are practically the same, and yet the 
latter is five times the size of the former. Even 
this does not express the relative comfort in the 
two cases, as a sailing-vessel necessarily remained 
at sea for long and uncertain periods, and the men 
could not relieve the tedium of life by frequent 
outings on shore. The element in favor of the 
old ships was the absence of coal and steam. 

The crews often suffered from disease, scurvy 
being: not at all uncommon. The record of the 
Constitution's log shows a daily sick list varying 
from eighteen to twenty-seven out of a crew of 
four hundred and sixty-eight during the month 
preceding the action with the Guerriere ; and on 
some of her cruises, the sick list ran up into alarm- 
ing numbers. Bad ventilation and salt food were 
not alone responsible. Medical science was in its 
infancy, and the surgeons had neither the means 
nor the skill to combat diseases now easily treated 
by well-trained physicians. Then, too, they were 
entirely dependent upon water from the shore, 
which frequently introduced sickness and epidemics 
on board ship. Few can realize what distilled 
water, good ventilation, and canned meats have 
done for the sailors of our day. 

In the United States Navy, the diet was not un- 
wholesome, but it was fearfully monotonous at sea, 
where all provisions were dried or salted. The 



20 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

ration fixed by Congress in 1801 for each man is 
given in the following table : — 

Sunday. — 1;^ lbs. beef, 14 oz. bread, \ lb. flour, ^ lb. 

suet, J pint spirits. 
Monday. — 1 lb. porK, 14 oz. bread, J pint peas, J 

pint spirits. 
Tuesday. — 1 lb. beef, 14 oz. bread, 2 oz. cheese, J 

pint spirits. 
Wednesday. — 1 lb. pork, 14 oz. bread, \ pint rice, 

^ pint spirits. 
Thursday. — 1;^ lbs. beef, 14 oz. bread, ^ lb. flour, \ 

lb. suet, ^ pint spirits. 
Friday. — 14 oz. bread, \ pint rice, 4 oz. cheese, 2 

oz. butter, ^ pint molasses, ^ pint spirits. 
Saturday. — 1 lb. pork, 14 oz. bread, ^ pint peas, \ 

pint vinegar, ^ pint spirits. 

Bread and spirits appear with unfailing regu- 
larity, the one usually stale and the other always 
good. Sometimes in port the men got fresh pro- 
visions by commuting a certain number of rations 
to be paid in money. They were often able to lay 
in potatoes and onions for themselves. The crew 
of a ship were divided into messes with from eight 
to twelve men in each mess for the convenience of 
supplying them. There was a ship's cook for all, 
and one boy for each mess. The latter drew the 
provisions from the purser and took general care 
of the outfits. Their lot was not an enviable one 




Brass Ilutvitzer 




C(tn-()ii!t</( 



ORDNANCE OF 1800 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 21 

under the best of conditions. Although there was 
much sickness and many deaths at sea, it was pos- 
sible, as Captain Porter demonstrated in the Essex 
by strict regulation as to diet and cleanliness, to 
keep a crew in good health for long periods. A 
sailor required in those days, as in these, as much 
looking after as a child. The grog question did not 
become a burning one until later, when, fortunately 
for the Navy, the spirit ration was abolished. The 
Constitution often carried six months' sea stores, 
and, as the amount required for the daily issue was 
about twenty-eight gallons, the cargo of whiskey 
placed on board must have been fully one hun- 
dred barrels. It formed the largest single item of 
expense for the stores of a ship. 

There was a great difference between the Amer- 
ican and British navies in the treatment of men. 
We had no imprisonment for petty offenses, and 
our system of punishments was more humane. 
Flogging was limited to a dozen lashes with plain 
cat-o'-nine-tails. Lord Dundonald says of the 
British Navy, " No man acquainted with the facts 
can wonder that interminable cruises, prohibition 
to land in port, constant confinement without salu- 
tary change of food and consequent disease endan- 
gering total disability, should have excited disgust 
and often terror of a sailor's life." We had no 
such complaint as this ; but, nevertheless, the lot 



22 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

of a sailor was hard. He was everybody's slave at 
sea and beneath notice on shore, as he really was 
too often a drunkard and a ne'er-do-well. Every 
generation has its victims, men whose lives go to 
the service of others. Jack Tar belongs to all 
generations, and his emancipation is still in the 
future. In spite of all the drawbacks of service in 
the Old Navy, many men acquired a genuine love 
for the seafaring life and grew attached to their 
ships. There was enough .change and adventure 
to satisfy the cravings of most sailors, especially in 
the large demands made upon our early sailing- 
vessels. Their spirit and sense of humor are ex- 
hibited in the nicknames given to their guns, ships, 
and, sometimes, to their officers. 

When the Navy was first organized, it was very 
difficult to enlist sailors of American birth. Ships 
were manned largely by foreigners. Notwithstand- 
ing the lack of protection offered by the government 
to our merchant-ships on the high seas, foreign 
commerce was so profitable as to draw all native 
born seamen into the merchant - service. They 
could get higher pay there than in the Navy. The 
consequence was the enlisting for the Navy of the 
flotsam to be found in every maritime city. For 
several years previous to 1812 the case was some- 
what different, as many American sailors were 
driven on shore by the embargo and the imminence 



FRIGATES AS CRUISERS 



23 



PORT 
BOW 



eXARBOARO 

7<^ 



of war ; so that there was no scarcity of men for 
the service when the war broke out. A large 
number were attracted, no doubt, by the prospect of 
prize money. The Amer- 
ican sailor was handy at 
all kinds of work — a 
kind of Jack-of-all-trades. 
He was quick at repair- 
ing damages to his ship, 
and remarkably apt at 
gunnery. The nucleus in 
every ship was native born 
in its commission and war- 
rant officers, whose dis- 
cipline and instruction 
brought even mixed crews 
to a high state of efficien- deck plan of a ship on 
cy. It is said that Nel- starboard tack 

son remarked of Commodore Dale's squadron in 
the Mediterranean, " There is in the handling of 
those transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for 
the Navy of Great Britain." 




CHAPTER n 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

NAVY 

The Revolutionary War left the country in a 
very unsettled condition. It was impoverished by 
the long struggle, and knew imperfectly how to 
maintain the independence which it had spent so 
much blood and treasure to secure. The States were 
still colonies with only loose notions of cooperation, 
and there was no real central government with 
power and money to provide for the nation's many 
wants. Some years of experience with no govern- 
ment were required to convince the colonies of the 
value of union under national executive, legisla- 
tive, and judicial heads. In this state of affairs 
there was no thought of dealing adequately with 
the problem of national defense, still less with that 
part of it belonging to the sea. The old Continen- 
tal Navy, or what was left of it, was sold, and in 
the fall of 1785 not an armed vessel remained 
in the possession of the united colonies. The frig- 
ate Alliance, which had seen active service during 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVY 25 

the war, was the last to go. She became an East 
Indiaman, and was ultimately wrecked on an island 
in the Delaware. The America, the only line-of- 
battle-ship built by the colonies, was presented to 
Louis XVI. in 1782, in testimony of the country's 
gratitude for his generous exertion in its behalf 
and to replace the Magnifique, a 74-gun ship lost 
in the harbor of Boston. She was afterwards cap- 
tured by the British. As every colony, or State, 
had its own custom-house, and to a large extent 
made its own revenue and navigation laws, several 
States maintained armed vessels for defense and 
revenue service ; but this did not constitute a navy 
or even an organized force. 

The Agent of Marine summed up the naval 
question in his report for August, 1783. He wrote 
that " the situation of the public treasury renders 
it not advisable to purchase ships for the present, 
nor until the several States shall grant such funds 
for the construction of ships, docks and naval 
arsenals, and for the support of the naval service, 
as shall enable the United States to establish their 
marine upon a permanent and respectable footing." 
As a result of this report the State of Virginia was 
authorized by Congress to arm two vessels at its 
own expense. Six years passed, during which the 
Constitution was discussed and adopted and the 
United States came into actual existence. With 



26 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

the internal machinery to be set going, the exter- 
nal relations became a source of grave anxiety 
to the new government. Europe was on the eve 
of a great upheaval, in which despotic power as 
represented by Napoleon was to engage in a death 
struggle with the real democracy for which England 
stood. Allied to one nation by blood and tradi- 
tion, and under obligation to the other for comfort 
and aid in adversity, our path was destined to be 
a thorny one for nearly a generation. To make it 
more painful, we were forced into war with each of 
these great powers in turn through sheer inability 
to maintain neutrality between them. The domes- 
tic and foreign debt pressed so heavily that the 
nation was obliged to submit to any humiliation 
rather than to spend money on a navy, the only arm 
capable of earning for us a position among nations. 
To add to the bitterness of this situation, the Bar- 
bary powers discovered the new flag upon the seas 
immediately after the treaty of peace with Great 
Britain. Two ships were captured just outside of the 
Mediterranean by the Algerine corsairs in 1785, 
and their crews were held in bondage. There was 
no reason for this attack upon our commerce. It 
was a clear case of piracy. The country rang with 
cries of indignation, but we were powerless to exact 
reparation, and we had to submit. In accordance 
with the well-established practice of Christian 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVY 27 

nations, we embarked on the fatal policy of nego- 
tiating and attempting to ransom the poor cap- 
tives who for no wrong had been set at hard labor. 
They were treated in all respects as slaves of the 
Dey, and their lot was indeed sad. Agents were 
appointed to negotiate and treat, with authority 
to offer a ransom for the prisoners, but the sum 
allowed was much too small. The Dey demanded 
$59,496 for twenty-one men, and the agents de- 
parted without having accomplished anything. 

In 1787, the American minister at Paris was 
authorized to place the business in the hands of the 
Mathurins, a religious order formed for the re- 
demption of Christian captives from the Barbary 
pirates. It was hoped that they could secure the 
liberation of our people at a lower rate. The 
General of the order recommended the discontin- 
uance of any allowance for the comfort of the cap- 
tives, in order to impress upon the Algerines the 
fact that nothing much could be expected from 
the United States. He feared that by paying a 
large amount we might raise the market value of 
Americans and turn the pirates against our ships as 
the greater gain. He was authorized to offer $550 
a man, but unfortunately a year elapsed before the 
money could be deposited in Paris and made avail- 
able. In the mean time several other nations had 
redeemed a number of slaves, and the price had 



28 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

gone up, so that the assistance of the Mathurins 
proved of no avail. Five years passed, and our 
sailors were still in captivity, made even more 
wretched by our endeavors to rescue them. We 
had cut off their allowance, and we were still hag- 
gling over the price of redemption. 

In 1790, President Washington laid before Con- 
gress a full report on Algiers, by the Secretary of 
State, in order that they might provide what 
seemed most expedient on behalf of our citizens in 
captivity. It is astonishing in these days to read 
so mild a message on a subject so burning. Twenty- 
one of our citizens were in slavery to a nest of 
pirates, and yet Congress did nothing. We made 
only another attempt to negotiate. It is fair to 
say that our government was not alone in its weak, 
half-hearted policy. The Christian nations of 
Europe had been for three centuries, more or less, 
under tribute to the corsairs of North Africa, and 
the ports of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli were often 
crowded with slaves captured from the coasts of 
the Mediterranean, and from the merchant-ships 
that ventured to ply its waters. From time to 
time peace was bought and yearly tribute was 
agreed upon. Even England, Holland, and Russia 
were parties to these debasing treaties. There was 
probably at the bottom of this system of tribute a 
certain amount of commercial jealousy, and every 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVY 29 

nation was likely to encourage depredations against 
its neighbors. By paying tribute to go free and 
keeping the Barbary pirates strong enough to cap- 
ture the ships of other nations an enormous advan- 
tage was gained to a selfish power. Thus all the 
governments of Europe were gradually drawn into 
secret treaties, whereas a united front would have 
broken up the whole infamous business. The 
United States eventually made the first really suc- 
cessful effort to shake off this yoke of Christendom, 
and the power of the corsairs declined from the time 
of our first serious campaign against them. How 
this war in which the Constitution formed the cen- 
tral figure came about will be told in connection 
with the resolutions of Congress to build a navy. 

In 1792, the President suggested a plan for 
concluding a treaty of peace with Algiers, and for 
obtaining the release of American captives, and 
it was approved. The sum of 140,000 was to be 
paid for the captives, f 25,000 for a treaty, and an 
annual tribute of 125,000. After some delay the 
negotiations were placed in the hands of Colonel 
David Humphreys, our minister to Portugal, and 
they might have been successful but for another 
unfortunate occurrence. Our merchant-ships were 
in the habit of collectinof at Lisbon and enterinsr 
the Mediterranean under convoy of the Portuguese, 
who were at war with Algiers. They had estab- 



30 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

lished a blockade of the Straits against all pirates, 
and we were therefore perfectly secure in the At- 
lantic. Before Colonel Humphreys could reach 
Algiers a truce had been arranged between the 
Dey and Portugal, which let the fleet of the former 
into the Atlantic and deprived us of a convoy. 
This arrangement was made by the English consul 
without consulting Portugal. The latter had ex- 
pressed a wish for the friendly cooperation of Eng- 
land in securing peace, but had expected ample 
time to warn its friends that they could no longer 
receive the protection of Portuguese convoy. Eng- 
land was accused at the time of aiming a direct 
blow at the growing commerce of the United States 
by letting loose the pirates against us. Whether 
this was true or not, it was quite in line with the 
policy of Europe and the policy of the British gov- 
ernment towards us. Treaties with other nations 
left our ships the only prey, and the Dey refused 
even to receive Colonel Humphreys. " Let the 
American ambassador take care how he comes 
here under the protection of any flag whatever." 
He declared his policy in a few words. " If I 
were to make peace with everybody, what should 
I do with my corsairs ? What should I do with 
my soldiers? They would take off my head for the 
want of other prizes, not being able to live on their 
miserable allowance." 




Training 




Firinu 



DKILL AT THE GUNS 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVY 31 

In October, 1793, eight Algerine vessels ap- 
peared in the Atlantic, and within a few weeks 
they had captured eleven American ships and 106 
American sailors. It is no wonder that our consul 
writes from Lisbon, " Another corsair in the At- 
lantic : God preserve us ! " Captain O'Brien, one 
of the captives, wrote from Algiers in December, 
1793, explaining the great danger to American 
shipping if a fleet of swift-sailing vessels were not 
fitted out at once for their protection. He also 
added that the corsairs of Algiers and Tunis 
would remain masters of the Western Ocean, and 
would be tempted to go to the coast of the United 
States. A petition to the House of Representa- 
tives, signed by the masters of thirteen vessels, 
accompanied his letter. They wrote in behalf o£ 
109 prisoners, whose piteous appeal could not fail 
to move the American people. The petition closed 
with the following: "Your petitioners pray you 
will take their unfortunate situation into consider- 
ation, and adopt such measures as will restore the 
American captives to their country, their friends, 
families and connections ; and your petitioners will 
ever pray and be thankful." Some of them had 
prayed during eight years of hard labor. 

Yet when this petition with all the facts reached 
Congress it produced only a small majority in 
favor of equipping a naval force. The opposition 



32 



THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 



was powerful and insistent. There was no idea of 
forming a permanent navy, and the vessels were 
finally authorized by a compromise directing the 
discontinuance of work on them in case a treaty 
should be arranged before their completion. The 
act to provide a naval armament was approved on 
March 27, 1794. The bill as passed allowed the 
President the option of building four ships of 44 
guns each, and two ships of 36 guns eacb, or of pro- 
curing an equivalent force by purchase. Officers 
and enlisted men were also provided for. 

Although President Washington had not given 
up hope of a treaty, he lost no time in proceeding 
with the six ships. There was no Navy Depart- 
ment, and the whole subject was referred to Henry 
Knox, the Secretary of War, who consulted several 
experienced ship-builders on the properties and 
models of the new ships. The plans of Mr. Joshua 
Humphreys, a well-known ship-builder of Philadel- 
phia, were accepted, and he was directed to prepare 
models of the six frigates for transmission to 
various places, as follows : — 

44-gun frigate 



Boston . . 
New York . 
Philadelphia 
Norfolk . . 
Baltimore 



36-gun 



Portsmouth, N. H. " 



Constitution 

President 

United States 

Chesapeake 

Constellation 

Congress 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NAVY 33 

For some reason the battery of the Chesapeake 
was subsequently changed to 36 guns, so that there 
were three of each class built. Mr. Humphreys 
was appointed constructor of the 44-gun ship to be 
built at Philadelphia. Although the interest in 
his ships is now mainly sentimental and historical, 
the considerations which led to the adoption of his 
designs are worthy of more extended treatment. 
His ideas, with but slight changes of expression, 
still apply in the modern Navy. A separate chap- 
ter will therefore be given to the American frigate 
and Mr. Humphreys. The selection of Boston for 
the Constitution was a happy one, both on account 
of the skill of the New England ship-builders and 
the influence which she was destined to have upon 
our common feeling of nationality. Curiously 
enough, the Constitution, the Hartford, and the 
Merrimac, participants in the three most momen- 
tous naval actions of our history, were constructed 
at Boston, which has rarely shown a lack of public 
spirit. The frigate Adams was built by the sub- 
scription of her citizens in 1798 and presented to 
the government. 



CHAPTER III 

DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW OF THE 
CONSTITUTION 

When the establishment of a navy was discussed 
in Congress, the nation was fortunate in having 
at the seat of government a naval architect of 
pronounced views and of considerable experience. 
Joshua Humphreys had early turned his attention 
to shipbuilding, and had given much thought to 
the construction of armed vessels for the Navy. 
At the age of twenty-five he built the frigate Ran- 
dolph, of unhappy memory, and later superintended 
fitting out a galley and several other ships for use 
in the Revolutionary War. When the agitation 
for a new navy began in the latter part of Wash- 
ington's first administration, Mr. Humphreys wrote 
to Robert Morris on the subject. The strong com- 
mon sense of his letter, which is here reproduced, 
should have disposed of all the subsequent con- 
troversies over the superiority of the American 
frigates. 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 35 

SouTHWARK, Jan. 6, 1793. 
Robert Morris, Esq. : 

Sir, — From the present appearance of affairs I be- 
lieve it is time this country was possessed of a navy; 
but as that is yet to be raised, I have ventured a few 
remarks on the subject. 

Ships that compose the European navys are generally 
distinguished by their rates ; but as the situation and 
depth of water of our coasts and harbors are different 
in some degrees from those in Europe, and as our navy 
for a considerable time will be inferior in numbers, we 
are to consider what size ships will be most formidable, 
and be an overmatch for those of an enemy ; such frig- 
ates as in blowing weather would be an overmatch for 
double-deck ships, and in light winds to evade coming to 
action ; or double-deck ships that would be an overmatch 
for common double-deck ships, and in blowing weather 
superior to ships of three decks, or in calm weather or 
light winds to outsail them. Ships built on these prin- 
ciples will render those of an enemy in a degree useless, 
or require a greater number before they dare attack our 
ships. Frigates, I suppose, will be the first object, and 
none ought to be built less than 150 feet keel, to 
carry twenty-eight 32-pounders or thirty 24-pounders 
on the gun deck, and 12-pounders on the quarter-deck. 
These ships should have scantlings equal to 74's, and I 
believe may be built of red cedar and live oak for 
about twenty-four pounds per ton, carpenters' tonnage, 
including carpenters', smiths' bill, including anchors, 
joiners, block makers, mast makers, riggers and rigging. 



36 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

sail makers and sail cloths, suits and chandlers' bill. 
As such ships will cost a large sum of money, they 
should be built of the best materials that could possibly 
be procured. The beams for their decks should be of 
the best Carolina pine, and the lower futtocks and 
knees, if possible, of live oak. 

The greatest care should be taken in the construction 
of such ships, and particularly all her timbers should be 
framed and bolted together before they are raised. 
Frigates built to carry 12 and 18-pounders, in my 
opinion, will not answer the expectation contemplated 
from them ; for if we should be obliged to take a part 
in the present European war, or at a future day we 
should be dragged into a war with any powers of the 
Old Continent, especially Great Britain, they having 
such a number of ships of that size, that it would be an 
equal chance by equal combat that we lose our ships, 
and more particularly from the Algerians, who have 
ships, and some of much greater force. Several ques- 
tions will arise, whether one large or two small frigates 
contribute most to the protection of our trade, or which 
will cost the least sum of money, or whether two small 
ones are as able to engage a double-deck ship as one 
large one. For my part I am decidedly of opinion the 
large ones will answer best. 

(Signed) Joshua Humphreys. 

Again he writes : — 

All the maritime powers of Europe being possessed 
of a great number of ships of the first size contemplated, 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 37 

and the Algerians having several, and considering the 
small number of ships directed to be built, the great 
necessity of constructing those ships in such a way as to 
render them less liable to be captured and more capable 
of rendering great services to the United States accord- 
ing to their number, the construction and sizes of frigates 
of the European nations were resorted to and their 
usefulness carefully considered. It was determined of 
importance to this country to take the lead in a class of 
ships not in use in Europe, which would be the only 
means of making our little navy of any importance. It 
would oblige other Powers to follow us intact, instead of 
our following them ; considering at the same time it was 
not impossible we should be brought into a war with 
some of the European nations ; and if we should be so 
engaged, and had ships of equal size with theirs, for 
want of experience and discipline, which cannot imme- 
diately be expected, in an engagement we should not 
have an equal chance, and probably lose our ships. 
Ships of the present construction have everything in 
their favor ; their great length gives them the advantage 
of sailing, which is an object of the first magnitude. 
They are superior to any European frigate, and if 
others should be in company, our frigates can always 
lead ahead and never be obliged to go into action, but on 
their own terms, except in a calm ; in blowing weather 
our ships are capable of engaging to advantage double- 
deck ships. Those reasons weighed down all objec- 
tions. 



38 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

When General Knox took the matter up in the 
following year he placed the designs for ships in 
Mr. Humphreys' hands, as already stated, and the 
latter's ideas were carried out almost to the letter. 
No doubt officers who had served in the Continen- 
tal Navy gave many valuable suggestions as to 
details. The hull of the Constitution was modeled 
after the best French practice. Her lines were 
fairly fine, and the upper parts of the sides tumbled 
home so as to make the upper deck perceptibly 
narrower than the gun-deck below it. This model 
was thought to render the motion in a seaway less 
abrupt, and thus an easy and regular roll could 
afford the gunners a better platform from which 
to aim. The narrowing of the deck brought the 
rigging closer to the mast, and permitted the yards 
to be braced more sharply for sailing on the 
wind. The Constitution's general qualities were 
well stated in Emmons' " Statistical History of 
the United States Navy," published in 1853. " Her 
log-book to 1809 shows a speed of 12J knots per 
hour, going free under topgallant-sails ; but by 
common report she enjoys an enviable reputation 
which has no doubt been enhanced by the able 
manner in which she has usually been commanded, 
and the good fortune that has always attended 
her. She has always been heavily sparred, and 
from her peculiar build (tumbling in above water) 




Sloop-of-Wa?- 




Frigate 



SECTIONS OF WAK-VESSELS 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 39 

has furnished her masts less angular support from 
her shrouds than is now obtained in our modern 
frigates. The latter cause, combined with sharp- 
ness of vessel, heavy live oak frames, heavy battery 
and too much ballast (which has since been reduced 
to seven tons, with a recommendation from her 
commander. Captain Percival, that this also be 
dispensed with), has generally rendered her weight 
an uncomfortable thing, a seaway hard on her 
cables, and no doubt was the principal cause of 
her laboring so much as to roll or pitch one of her 
long 24-pounders out of her forecastle port." In 
1851 her commander reports that she "works 
within eleven points of the wind; steers, works, 
sails, scuds, and lies-to well ; rolls deep and easy, 
and sailing close-hauled has beaten everything 
sailed with." 

Her dimensions were as follows : Length over 
all, 204 feet ; length on load water line, 175 feet ; 
breadth of beam, 43.6 feet; depth of hold, 14.3 
feet ; draught forward, 21 feet ; draught aft, 23 
feet. She sailed best at this trim. Her tonnage 
by old measurements was 1576 ; later this was 
changed to 1607, and by a still later law to 1335. 
Her displacement was 2200 tons. She carried at 
first about 140 tons of ballast, which proved to be 
too much, but was not taken out until many years 
afterwards. As stated above, it was ultimately 



40 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

reduced to 7 tons. Her tanks held 48,600 gallons 
of water, and the hold stowed six months' provi- 
sions for a crew of 475 men. The height of the 
gun-deck port sills was from 8 to 9 feet above the 
water line. For purposes of comparison the fol- 
lowing dimensions of the British 38-gun frigates 
are taken from James's " Naval Occurrences : " 
Length over all, 180.3 feet ; length on load water 
line, 154.5 feet ; beam, 38.8 feet ; depth of hold, 
13.5 feet. It will be seen from this that the 
Constitution was 20 feet longer and about 5 feet 
broader. 

With uncommon foresight Mr. Humphreys made 
the hull frames, the planking, and the masts of his 
ships fully equal in dimensions to those in a line- 
of-battle-ship. In fact, although strictly a frigate- 
built ship, the British were not entirely without 
reason in calling the Constitution a disguised line- 
of-battle-ship. She did correspond somewhat to a 
razeed seventy-four; that is, a three-decked ship 
with the spar-deck removed and guns on only two 
decks. The first act of the British government 
after several conflicts between the American and 
British frigates was to cut down some of their line- 
of -battle-ships in order to overmatch the President 
and the Constitution with ships of their own rating. 
The unusual hardness and weight of the timbers 
and the planking in the Constitution gave her the 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 41 

name of " Old Ironsides." The greater height of 
the guns above water was also an advantage. She 
could go into action in weather which rolled the 
gun-ports of the ordinary frigate and line-of-battle- 
ship under water. 

Mr. Humphreys' design of the masts, yards, 
and rigging was in every way admirable. The 
extra beam given to all his ships afforded a better 
angle in staying the masts to resist rolling in a 
seaway, and the increased diameter of the several 
parts gave much greater stiffness in case the rigging 
was cut, or part of a mast itself was cut away by 
shot. The advantage here cannot be overestimated. 
Most of the engagements were fought with the ships 
rolling and a pressure of wind on the sails. Even 
a slight looseness of the shrouds was dangerous. 
It must be remembered that we are referring to 
the da^ys of hemp rigging and of hemp cables for 
the anchors. Commodore Morris relates of the 
first ship in which he went to sea, the Congress, 
that she was dismasted in a gale. Her rigging 
had been fitted during the winter. She left New- 
port in January, and in a few days ran into much 
warmer weather. The rigging slackened up and 
did not afford sufficient support to the mainmast, 
which fell overboard in a gale of wind. Without 
the rigging, a ship's masts one hundred years ago 
would probably have gone overboard in a heavy 



42 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

sea even though no sails were set. Hence the very 
great danger during an engagement, if the standing 
rigging was much cut, and the advisability of 
making all the parts extra heavy. The Constitution 
was not exceptionally well built for an American 
frigate in this respect. Her sides tumbled home 
so much that the masts could not be stayed to the 
best advantage. Many complaints were made by 
her commanding officers of the weakness of the 
channels, probably that part of the side to which 
the lower end of the rigging was secured. 

Notwithstanding the improvements made by Mr. 
Humphreys, the merits of the Constitution were 
not discovered until after she had destroyed two 
British frigates. At the beginning of the century 
English officers had been disposed to treat our new 
ships contemptuously, criticising their batteries as 
too heavy and their general design as too clumsy. 
They had ample opportunity to examine the Con- 
stitution in the West Indies and the Mediterra- 
nean, and the general opinion seemed to be that 
she was too heavy for the rapid manoeuvring de- 
manded of a frigate. Some of the British news- 
papers went even further, and referred in derision 
to all of Mr. Humphreys' shijis as " fir-built frig- 
ates." The real fact is, that the first success of 
the Constitution and her sister ships effected almost 
a revolution in the design and armament of foreign 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 43 

war-vessels, just as the Monitor, fifty years later, 
practically created tlie modern battle-ship. An 
English authority, writing in 1840, says, "It is 
but justice in regard to America to mention that 
England has benefited by her example, and that the 
large class of frigates now employed in the British 
service are modeled after those of the United 
States." 

There has never been any doubt since 1812 of the 
superiority of these ships over everything of their 
class afloat during their first sixteen years. Mr. 
Humphreys planned them to excel in every respect, 
and he lived to see his expectations fulfilled. In 
committing himself to long 24-pound guns for the 
main-deck batteries, he was really striking out in 
a new path. Only a few frigates had previously 
carried such heavy guns, and they were not looked 
upon as examples to be followed. An 18-pounder 
was regarded as the effective limit for good work- 
able frigates. Perhaps this departure from the 
ordinary type did as much as anything else to bring 
our young navy into ridicule abroad. 

The first battery placed on board the Constitu- 
tion was bought in England, and bore the stamp 
G. R. It consisted of twenty-eight long 24-pound- 
ers on the gun-deck, and ten long 12-pounders on 
the quarter-deck. These were carried through the 
war of reprisal against France, and the main-deck 



44 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION 

battery was used against the English in 1812. In 
1804 Commodore Preble obtained at Naples six 
24-pounders, which he mounted on the spar-deck 
for use against the Tripolitans. The upper deck 
guns were afterwards exchanged for 42-pound car- 
ronades, but these were found too heavy for the 
hull, and Captain Hull replaced them with 32- 
pound carronades. In the beginning of 1812 
we find her, therefore, with a battery somewhat 
lighter than those of her sister ships, the President 
and the United States, She carried on the gun- 
deck thirty long 24-pounders, on the quarter-deck 
sixteen 32-pound carronades, and on the forecastle 
six 32-pound carronades, one long 18-pounder, and 
two long 24-pounders as bow chasers. After Hull's 
victory two of the carronades were taken out, 
leaving her with fifty-three guns in all. The bat- 
tery from 1815 to the present time is unimportant ; 
and, besides, it has not been carefully recorded. 
In 1860, she still had fifty guns on board, but they 
were shortly afterwards reduced in number, and 
she went back to Annapolis in 1865 with seventeen 
guns. While serving as a training-ship for ap- 
prentices in the latter part of the seventies she 
carried eighteen guns. Now she has none. It is 
probable that her battery during the War of 1812 
was too heavy, and this may explain the hogging 
which was discovered and corrected in 1834. 




o 



DESCRIPTION, ARMAMENT, AND CREW 45 

The crew was fixed by Congress in 1794 at 359 
officers and men, but the Navy Department in- 
creased this to 400 in 1798,-22 officers and 378 
petty officers, seamen, and marines. The number 
was further increased to nearly 500 officers and 
men, doubtless when the carronades were added to 
the battery. The following list of men is taken 
from Goldsborough's '^ Naval Chronicle : " — 

Commander 1 

Lieutenants 4 

Lieut. Marines 2 

SaiHng-master 1 

Master's Mates 2 

Midshipmen 8 

Purser 1 

Surgeon 1 

Surgeon's Mates 2 

Clerk 1 

Carpenter 1 

Carpenter's Mates 2 

Boatswain 1 

Boatswain's Mates 2 

Yeoman of gun-room 1 

Gunner 1 

Quarter-gunners 11 

Coxswain 1 

Sailmaker 1 

Cooper 1 

Steward 1 



46 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Armorer 1 

Master-at-Arms 1 

Cook 1 

Chaplain 1 

Able Seamen 120 

Ordinary Seamen 150 

Boys 30 

Marines, including sergeants and cor- 
porals 60 

Total 400 

The pay fixed by Congress in 1794 and subse- 
quently amended in 1799 for the officers, reck- 
oning in the value of commuted rations, was as 
follows : captain, f 2017.60 per year ; lieutenant, 
f 786.60 ; surgeon, $804.40 ; chaplain, sailing- 
master, purser, $684.40 ; surgeon's mate, lieuten- 
ant of marines, $564.40 ; boatswain, gunner, sail- 
maker, carpenter, $444.40 ; midshipman, $432.40. 
The pay of the petty officers averaged about $19.00 
per month, with the addition of one or two ra- 
tions, and the enlisted men received from $8.00 
to $17.00 per month. The total running expenses 
of the Constitution, including pay, provisions, med- 
icines and miscellaneous expenditures, amounted to 
about $125,000 per year. Her original cost was 
$302,719, which included about $93,000 for the 
guns and equipment. The repairs on her up to 
1850 amounted to $495,236. 



CHAPTER IV 

CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE OF THE CON- 
STITUTION 

The system under which the Constitution was 
built seems to have been radically different from 
the present common practice. The materials for 
the hull and equipment were purchased by the 
Treasury Department and supplied to the builders. 
All labor and unimportant materials were procured 
by naval agents who received a commission of two 
and one half per cent on approved bills. The cap- 
tain appointed to command the ship was ordered to 
superintend the construction and equipment, while 
the naval constructor had the immediate responsi- 
bility of the workmen employed, of the materials 
put into the ship, of the launching, and in general 
of all that went towards producing a frigate me- 
chanically perfect and complete in accordance with 
the plans supplied by Mr. Humphreys. The actual 
builder, or master mechanic, in whose yard the 
vessel was constructed, had no responsibility be- 
yond doing good work. Immediately after the 



48 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

plans were prepared, Mr. John T. Morgan, a mas- 
ter shipwright of Boston, was sent to Savannah 
and Charleston to select live oak, red cedar, and 
hard pine for all the new frigates. The Secretary 
of War reported to Congress " that everything, if 
not to be" created, was to be modified. That the 
wood of which the frames were to be made was 
standing in the forests ; the iron for the cannon 
lying in its natural bed ; and the flax and hemp, 
perhaps, in their seed." The first tree felled for 
the Constitution was an oak on St. Simon's Island 
off the mouth of the Altamaha River. The stump 
stood for many years as " Constitution Oak." The 
best of live oak timbers were used in the frames, 
and the construction proceeded with unusual care. 
It is probable that the delay following the treaty 
with Algiers served to toughen the oak, and to 
give it extraordinary hardness. 

Colonel George Claghorn was appointed naval 
constructor, with Mr. Hartly as his assistant, and 
Samuel Nicholson, one of the new captains, was 
detailed as inspector for the government. General 
Henry Jackson was the naval agent through whose 
hands all payments passed. The ship's keel was 
laid in the yard of Edmund Hartt; or, as the 
place was called, " Hartt's Naval Yard," near what 
is now Constitution Wharf. Edmund Thayer 
built the gun-carriages at South End, and Isaac 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 49 

Harris, who put new masts on her during the War 
of 1812, worked as an apprentice in the mastyard. 
The anchors were made at Hanover, and the sails 
in the old Granary Building at the corner of Park 
and Tremont streets. The Shillings Brothers were 
employed on carvings for the figurehead and the 
several ornaments for other parts of the ship. It 
is an interesting fact that Paul Revere supplied 
the copper for the hull. He wrote to the Secre- 
tary of War offering to furnish the copper and 
composition bolts, braces, and other parts "as 
cheap as any one," and he subsequently received 
$3820.33 in payment for his contribution toward 
the building of the Constitution. The copper bolts 
and spikes were forged by a process known only 
to him. 

In a report on the progress in building the frig- 
ate, dated December 23, 1794, Mr. Humphreys 
makes the following explanation, which shows 
where he originally got his ideas. "As soon as 
Congress had agreed to build frigates, it was con- 
templated to make them the most powerful, and, 
at the same time, the most useful ships. After 
the most extensive researches and mature delibera- 
tions, their dimensions were fixed and I was di- 
rected to prepare the draught ; which was accord- 
ingly done and approved. Those plans appear to 
be similar with those adopted by France, in their 



50 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

great experience in naval architecture ; they hav- 
ing cut down several of their seventy-fours to 
make heavy frigates ; making them nearly of the 
dimensions of those for the United States. From 
the construction of those ships, it is expected the 
commanders of them will have it in their power to 
engage or not any ship, as they may think pro- 
per ; and no ship under sixty-four, now afloat, but 
what must submit to them." 

By the end of 1795 she was well along towards 
completion, but an event occurred to cause a seri- 
ous delay, and even to threaten her existence ; 
that was the treaty of peace with Algiers. It had 
been brought about thtough the persistent efforts 
of Colonel Humphreys, with the cooperation of 
the French Republic. The treaty was signed at 
Lisbon on November 28, 1795. It cost us in all 
1992,46^, a large part of which went to the re- 
demption of captives. Peace presents amounted 
to 160,000. We further agreed upon an annuity 
of $21,600 in naval stores. Two items for the 
first two years were 1000 barrels of powder and 
2000 bomb-shells, enough to have tempted the 
Algerians to ask for an increase in their annuity. 
Another item was introduced through our failure to 
pay promptly. The Dey became very wroth over 
the unavoidable delay in getting our bills cashed 
abroad, and the agents, fearing the loss of the 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 61 

treaty, promised him the additional gift of a fine 
frigate. This cost us nearly flOO,000. In the 
course of time the whole miserable business was 
completed, however, and the work on our new 
frigates was stopped in accordance with the act of 
Congress. The treaty with Morocco was renewed 
at the same time, at an expense of 125,000 paid 
down without further tribute. As a sequel to the 
above, we have the President's recommendation to 
Congress in 1797, " The Dey of Algiers has mani- 
fested a predilection for American-built vessels," 
and he " will repay the whole expense of building. 
The expense of navigating them to Algiers may 
perhaps be compensated by the freight of the 
stores with which they may be loaded on account 
of our stipulations by treaty with the Dey." 

The whole question of a navy was once more 
debated in Congress. A report from the Secre- 
tary of War showed that the frigates were in vari- 
ous stages of completion, and that all of them 
could be gotten ready for sea by the end of the 
year 1796. The sum of 1688,888 had been pro- 
vided originally, and Congress now directed the 
unexpended balance of this money to be used for 
the completion of the three most advanced frig- 
ates, the perishable materials and the other three 
to be sold. At first it was contended that none 
of these ships should be completed, that we had 



52 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

no need of a navy, that commerce ought to protect 
itself. The fundamental reason for maintaining 
a navy was hardly broached, and Washington 
struck the keynote of the situation in his message 
to Congress at the end of 1796. " It is in our 
own experience that the most sincere neutrality is 
not sufficient guard against the depredations of 
nations at war. To secure respect to a neutral 
flag requires a naval force organized and ready 
to protect it from insult or aggression." Natu- 
rally enough, it was the neutrality question and 
not the depredations of the corsairs which ulti- 
mately forced us into the completion of the frig- 
ates and the establislnnent of a permanent Navy 
Department. 

From the outbreak of the war between Great 
Britain and France, our merchant-ships had fared 
badly at the hands of both belligerents. Various 
decrees and paper blockades were issued by one 
against the other in the hope of cutting off all 
supplies regardless of the rights of neutral nations. 
Our country was the chief sufferer. We were 
between the millstones. An alliance with one of 
the belligerents seemed the only way out of the 
difficulty, and this was exactly what each side was 
seeking, in order to use our harbors as bases of 
operation against the West Indies. The French 
presumed so far as to use them without an alii- 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 53 

ance, and we were helpless to prevent the grossest 
violations of neutrality. They even attempted the 
enlistment of our citizens for service against Great 
Britain, and when the government objected the 
French minister appealed to the people against 
their executive. His recall was requested, and a 
war of spoliation followed. The depredations of 
the pirates were as nothing compared with the 
system pursued, under the guise of belligerent 
rights, by both England and France. The latter 
was the worst offender. Hundreds of our ships 
were captured and run into French or Spanish 
ports for adjudication. Those not condemned 
were usually retained until their cargoes became 
worthless. Many American sailors suffered in 
the French West Indies no less than the poor 
captives in Algiers. 

The degradation and humiliation of the United 
States finally passed beyond endurance, and Con- 
gress felt obliged to act in defense of our rights. 
Fortunately, a treaty with England relieved us for 
the time being of one antagonist, and we were free 
to turn against France. A number of bills were 
passed looking to the possibility of war ; amongst 
others, in July, 1797, an additional appropriation 
for completing three frigates, the Constitution, the 
United States, and the Constellation. In spite of 
the extreme tension, however, relations were not 



64 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

quite to the breaking-point, and Congress was too 
economical to authorize the actual equipment of 
these ships for sea. The rupture came with the 
publication of the diplomatic correspondence with 
France. The French Directory had refused to 
receive the three envoys sent over to negotiate, and 
had practically insulted them. Certain persons 
appeared as intermediaries between them and the 
Directory, demanding ample remuneration for their 
services. Another inflaming cause of the trouble 
quickly followed in the appearance of a French 
privateer on the coast in the early part of 1798. 
She entered the harbor of Charleston and de- 
stroyed a British merchant-ship peaceably at an- 
chor; then she went outside and captured two 
American vessels bound into port. This was so 
plainly an act of war that Congress immediately 
appropriated the necessary money to arm, equip, 
and man the three frigates for operation against 
the French. One month later, April 30, 1798, the 
Navy was placed under a separate cabinet officer, 
and Benjamin Stoddert became the first Secretary 
of the Navy. The final step towards the formation 
of the naval service was thus forced upon us by 
the friends who had helped to gain our independ- 
ence. They were themselves in worse servitude 
than the American colonies under George III., 
and their«country was a democracy only in name. 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 55 

During the summer of 1798 war was practically 
declared by an act of Congress authorizing the 
capture of any armed French vessels found within 
the jurisdictional limits of the United States or 
elsewhere on the high seas. To the everlasting 
honor of the nation, the private property of French 
citizens was respected, and our retaliation was con- 
fined solely to those in arms against us. 

In the mean time the Constitution had been com- 
pleted and equipped for sea. She was launched 
in October, 1797. The date originally fixed for 
the launching was that of the spring tide on Sep- 
tember 20, but she disappointed a large number 
of spectators by sticking on the ways. The Con- 
stellation had been gotten into the water at Balti- 
more on September 7, and the United States still 
earlier, July 10, at Philadelphia. Experience 
with the launching of the latter ship had demon- 
strated that the ways were too steep. She slid off 
before the shores were knocked out, and injured 
her false keel and rudder brace so that she had to 
be hove down for repairs. The builder of the Con- 
stitution, wishing to avoid a repetition of this acci- 
dent, accordingly gave the ways of his ship less 
inclination, and got it so small that she did not 
even move when the props were taken out. The 
President, the Governor, and other notables had 
been invited to be present, and the interest in 



56 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Boston was so great as to draw crowds of people. 
The spectacle must have been a mortifying one to 
Colonel Claghorn. He had sent a communication 
to the newspapers expressing abundant solicitude 
for the spectators, particularly women and children. 
Only a limited number of people were permitted 
to enter the shipyard ; others were advised not to 
" approach in crowds too near the margin of the 
contiofuous wharves, as the sudden entrance of so 
large a body as the frigate will occasion an in- 
stantaneous swell of water, the height of which 
cannot be easily ascertained, and against which, 
therefore, the discretion of the people ought amply 
to guard." Pleasure craft were warned off, and 
those erecting stages for the accommodation of 
spectators were requested to make them secure, " as 
the loss of a single citizen would mar the satis- 
faction and pleasure that the constructor would 
otherwise enjoy of- building and conducting into 
the ocean a Powerful Agent of National Justice, 
which hope dictates may become the just pride 
and ornament of the American name." Colonel 
Claghorn had screws and other mechanical power 
applied, but in vain. The ship moved down the 
ways about twenty-seven feet and then stopped. 
No effort could budge her. The paVt of the ways 
which had not previously borne her weight settled, 
and the case was hopeless. Two days later another 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 57 

attempt likewise proved futile. She was moved 
about thirty-one feet further, but the effort was 
given up for fear of placing her in a very un- 
safe position if she did not at once slide into the 
water. Her builder proceeded to increase the in- 
clination of the ways and to give them greater sup- 
port, so that she might be certain to move off at 
the next attempt, which was set for the spring tide 
of October. There is no doubt that the settling of 
the launching ways strained her so that the keel 
was out of line. 

The newspapers were more or less sympathetic, 
and various explanations and suggestions were sup- 
plied to the public. That the " Centinel " had views 
on the subject is evidenced by the following, taken 
from an article written to inculcate the virtue of 
calmness and philosophy in the people's disappoint- 
ment : " To indifferent, unthinking people, the 
disappointment is a disappointment. The Jacobins 
will crow, and the Chronicle, that speaking trumpet 
of the devil, will echo the tale of disaj^pointment 
to the utmost verge of its pestiferous influence." 

The Haymarket Theatre was more successful in 
a stage representation of the launch. A musical 
piece, called " The Launch," or " Huzza for the 
Constitution," had been written for the evening of 
September 20 by Mr. John Hodgkinson. The 
whole was conceived and prepared in the short 



58 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

space of forty-eight hours. It was extensively 
advertised, and seems to have been a great success. 
One Tyler sang a song in praise of the Constitu- 
tion and her crew. 

The successful launch finally occurred on Octo- 
ber 21. Captain James Sever, whose ship was 
on the stocks at Portsmouth awaiting congressional 
action, went down to break a bottle of wine over 
her bow. A newspaper man was present, and gave 
a very graphic account of the launch before " a 
numerous and brilliant collection of citizens." 
They had begun to assemble at daylight on the 
firing of a gun, which was the signal agreed upon 
to indicate that all was propitious, and " at fifteen 
minutes after twelve, at the first stroke at the spur 
shores, she commenced a movement into the water 
with such steadiness, majesty and exactness as to 
fill almost every breast with sensations of joy and 
delight." The writer closed with the following 
sentiment : " May the hoary monarch of the ele- 
ment, on whose bosom she now reclines, protect 
her with his trident ; and whenever her departure 
into the waste of his realm may be necessary, may 
propitious breezes waft her to the haven of peace, 
or aid her to hurl the vindictive thunder of national 
vengeance on the disturbers of our country's re- 
pose, or the depredators on the lawful commerce of 
our citizens." 



mi-^- '~f-tt^tr,r^^^fpnt^f>mty 




CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 59 

Captain Samuel Nicholson, who was not popular 
with the constructors and mechanics, desired very- 
much the honor of hoisting the first national flag 
over the new frigate, but he was forestalled by a 
workman. He went out of the shipyard for break- 
fast on the morning of the launch, leaving orders 
that no flag was to be hoisted, but while he was 
absent a calker named Samuel Bentley ran up the 
flag, which had already been bent to the halyards. 
This was no doubt a piece of mischief deliberately 
aimed at Captain Nicholson, or perhaps a method 
of working off some old grudge. The new flag 
bore fifteen stripes for the total number of states in 
the Union at that time, instead of thirteen as now. 

After launching her, the government did not 
proceed with diligence to fit her out. The act to 
complete and equip for sea the three frigates was 
not passed until March 27, 1798, and the summer 
arrived before the Constitution got fairly away. 
The officers ordered to her were as follows : — 

Captain, Samuel Nicholson. 

First Lieutenant, Charles Russell. 

Lieutenants, Benjamin Lee, Richard C. Beale, Isaac 
Hull. 

Lieutenant of Marines, Lemuel Clark. 

Surgeon, William Reed. 

The act of Congress directing reprisals against 
the French soon called into existence a numerous 



60 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

fleet. Privateers were commissioned, revenue-ves- 
sels were ordered to service with the Navy, and 
several merchant-ships were purchased and armed. 
Four squadrons were formed to patrol the coast 
and the West Indies, where French privateers had 
wrought the greatest havoc upon our merchant 
shipping. The Constitution, under Captain Samuel 
Nicholson, was included in the detail for this serv- 
ice. She had dropped down from the inner harbor 
of Boston to the Roads on July 2, 1798, and she 
cleared for sea on the 22d. She was not the first 
of the new navy to get under canvas, as four other 
ships had preceded her to sea. Her first essay was 
probably to get the crew shaken down, and to give 
them some practice at the guns and under sail. 
She put into Newport on August 21 for orders, 
and there Captain Nicholson found that he was 
expected to cruise from Cape Henry to Florida in 
company with four revenue-cutters, in search of 
French armed ships. He sailed on August 23, 
but his ship was transferred in December to 
the squadron of Commodore John Barry, with 
crui sing-ground along the Windward Islands and 
rendezvous at Prince Rupert's Bay. The Con- 
stitution proved to be too large for the duties as- 
signed to her, as the French sent no heavy armed 
ships to America, in consequence of the war with 
England and of the numerous English fleet in the 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 61 

West Indies. She therefore accomplished little 
under Captain Nicholson in the destruction of the 
French privateers. The Constellation, a smaller 
frigate, was more lucky, as she fought the only two 
frigate actions of the war. None of the American 
vessels were really serviceable in running down 
French privateers, until later two fast schooners 
were fitted up for this purpose. These proved to 
be more effective than all our ships put together 
had previously been. In 1799, Captain Nicholson 
returned to Boston and gave up his command to 
Commodore Silas Talbot, who, with Isaac Hull as 
first lieutenant, took the Constitution as his flag- 
ship. She carried four hundred officers and men 
at this time. 

For several years after the establishment of the 
Navy Department, the Navy lacked method. The 
appointment of officers was without system ; some 
had served in the Army, some in merchant-ships, 
some in the Navy of the Revolution. Almost all 
of the captains appointed for the six frigates 
authorized in 1794 had seen service in the Revo- 
lutionary Navy. Many of the commissioned lieu- 
tenants came from the merchant-service, where they 
had been commanders. They were good seamen, 
but often had few qualifications as officers. The 
midshipmen appointed to the service were usually 
young men of good families. They seldom hatl 



62 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

much education, and the service did not encourage 
study; but they developed into first-rate seamen, 
whose skill and pluck have never been exceeded. 
When the subordinate officers were first appointed 
to the new ships, they took rank according to the 
seniority of the commanding officer. The first lieu- 
tenant of Captain Barry's ships was senior to all 
other lieutenants, and the junior lieutenants were 
senior to all lieutenants of their own grade. 

Promotions were made from grade to grade with- 
out much rule and without examination for fitness. 
During the French war they were most irregular, 
and officers who went to sea as lieutenants some- 
times returned home as captains. Acting midship- 
men were appointed by the captains of vessels. A 
warrant from the Navy Department made them 
permanent officers, but the examinations for ad- 
vancement to the lieutenant's grade were not insti- 
tuted until 1819. The service was not homogene- 
ous, and there was little esprit de corps until the 
first midshipmen appointed to the Navy grew up 
to be commanding officers. Nevertheless, life on 
board ship seems to have been more social than we 
find it on our large ships now, and the officers 
came to know one another better. The smallness 
of the Navy and the constant meeting of the ships 
threw them much together. In 1801, after the 
treaty with France, the list of officers was reduced 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 63 

from 506 to 229, probably ridding the service of 
many undesirables, and leaving a picked corps for 
the Navy. This may account in some measure 
for the uniform good behavior of our officers before 
Tripoli. 

There were four grades of officers who succeeded 
to the command of vessels : Captains, Master Com- 
mandants, Lieutenants, and Midshipmen. The 
senior captain in a squadron, while in command, 
received the title Commodore, and flew a broad 
pennant at the mainmast to designate the flag- 
ship. 

The term of service of seamen was only one 
year, and ships were often much embarrassed by 
the necessity of getting back to port for new crews. 
The war with the Barbary pirates was carried on 
at such a distance from home that Congress was 
obliged to extend the period of enlistment to two 
years, and in 1820 this was further extended to 
three years. The short enlistment had repeatedly 
given trouble, and even with the two-year limit the 
crews were occasionally kept beyond their time, con- 
trary to law, owing to the impossibility of getting 
them home. In 1807 an incident illustrative of the 
discontent of the seamen from this cause occurred on 
the Constitution just before she sailed from Gibral- 
tar. Some of the men were nearly two years over 
time. When all hands were called to get up 



64 THE FEIGATE CONSTITUTION 

anchor, the crew refused to obey unless the ship was 
to sail for home, where they could obtain their dis- 
charges. The captain, sustained by his officers and 
the marines, succeeded in quelling the insubordi- 
nation, but none of the men was ever punished. 

The Constitution left Boston in August, 1799, to 
become the flagship on the San Domingo station, 
and to cruise in the neighborhood of Cayenne and 
Guadeloupe on the way to Cape Francois, where 
Commodore Talbot was to assume the chief com- 
mand. This cruise brought the ship no particular 
credit, as she captured only a few insignificant 
prizes. Two events, however, served to vary the 
monotony of the quasi-blockade of the islands. As 
stated before, the ship was very heavily built and 
carried guns considerably heavier than the corre- 
sponding rate in the British Navy. She was much 
criticised by the English in the West Indies. 
"While cruising to windward of San Domingo, a 
ship was sighted which turned out to be a British 
frigate commanded by an acquaintance of Commo- 
y dore Talbot. The English captain went on board 
the Constitution to take a look at the craft, and 
after examining her he expressed great admiration 
for her, but declared that his own ship could beat 
her on the wind. As he had come out by way of the 
Madeiras, where he had purchased some wine, he 
offered to bet a cask of Madeira against an equiva- 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 65 

lent in money i£ Commodore Talbot would meet 
him thereabouts some weeks later for a trial of 
speed. The agreement was made, and the English- 
man went into port to refit and clean the bottom. 
He came out at the appointed time looking, as 
Jack Tar said, like a new fiddle. The two com- 
manders dined together, and arranged the con- 
ditions of the race for the succeeding day. The 
ships kept near each other during the night, and 
Isaac Hull, who had charge of all details on the 
Constitution, made every preparation for the race, 
which began at dawn upon the firing of a gun. 
All day long the two ships beat to windward in 
short tacks, Hull watching for every possible op- 
portunity and advantage. His skill in handling 
the ship on this occasion gained him a lasting repu- 
tation among the sailors, who were kept on deck 
moving from side to side whenever a better slant 
of wind could be obtained thereby. When the gun 
was fired at sunset the Englishman was hull down 
to leeward. The Constitution accordingly squared 
away before the wind and joined him after dark. 
A boat was waiting, and the English cai)tain came 
on board, like a true sportsman, with his cask of 
Madeira. It is a pleasant picture to see the two 
captains meeting over a social glass of wine in 
celebration of the event. The relations between 
American and English ships did not lack cordiality 



66 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

at this period, in spite of the growing irritation 
over the impressment of our seamen. The Balti- 
more affair had occurred only the previous year, 
when five sailors were taken out of the Baltimore 
sloop-of-war by a British squadron. 

The next exploit of the Constitution was full of 
promise for the future, although not very credit- 
able to the judgment of the commanding officer. 
Having heard that the Sandwich, a French letter 
of marque, was in the Spanish harbor of Porto 
Plata, on the north side of San Domingo, loading 
with coffee, he determined to cut her out. Isaac 
Hull was directed on the 10th of May, 1800, to 
take a detachment of sailors and marines from the 
Constitution for this duty, and Commodore Tal- 
bot gave him orders to bring the Sandwich out if 
practicable. The work was admirably done in 
broad daylight, as will be seen by Commodore 
Talbot's own report to the Secretary of the Navy : 

I have now to acquaint you, Sir, that I have for some 
time been meditating an enterprise against a French 
armed ship lying at Port Platte, protected by her own 
guns and a fort of three heavy cannon. It was my first 
intention to have gone in with the Constitution, and to 
have silenced the fort and ship, which has all her guns 
on one side, to cooperate with the fort in defending 
against any hostile force ; but after the best information 
I could gain, I found it to be somewhat dangerous to 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 67 

approach the entrance of the harbor, with a ship of the 
draft of water of the Constitution. 

Having detained the sloop Sally, which had left Port 
Platte but a few days before, and was to have returned 
there previous to her sailing for the United States, I 
conceived that this sloop would be a suitable vessel for 
a disguise. I therefore manned her at sea from the 
Constitution, with about ninety brave seamen and 
marines, the latter to be commanded by Captain Car- 
mick and Lieutenant Amory, when on shore ; but the 
entire command I gave to Mr. Isaac Hull, my first lieu- 
tenant, who entered the harbor of Port Platte yesterday, 
in open day, with his men in the hold of the sloop, ex- 
cept five or six to work her in. They ran alongside of 
the ship, and boarded her sword in hand, without the 
loss of a man, killed or wounded. At the moment the 
ship was boarded, agreeably to my plan, Captain Car- 
mick and Lieutenant Amory landed with the marines, 
up to their necks in water, and spiked all the cannon in 
the fort, before the commanding officer had time to 
recollect and prepare himself for defence. 

Perhaps no enterprise of the same moment was ever 
better executed ; and I feel myself under great obliga- 
tions to Lieutenant Hull, Captain Carmick, and Lieu- 
tenant Amory, for their avidity in undertaking the 
scheme I had planned, and for the handsome manner 
and great address with which they performed this dar- 
ing venture. 

The ship, I understand, mounts four sixes and two 
nines ; she was formerly the British packet Sandwich, 



68 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTIOISr 

and from the boasting publications at the cape, and the 
declaration of the officers, she is one of the fastest sailors 
that swims. She ran three or four years (if I forget 
not), as a privateer out of France, and with greater suc- 
cess than any other that ever sailed out of their ports. 
She is a beautiful copper bottomed ship ; her cargo con- 
sists principally of sugar and coffee. 

I am, &c., Silas Talbot. 

After the capture, the ship, which was stripped 
down to her lower masts, had to be rigged before 
they could move her; but nothing daunted the 
American sailors, and she sailed out at sunset. 
Not a man was injured. Although no expedition 
was ever better planned and carried out, it cost 
the crew dear in the end. The capture was wholly 
illegal, as the United States had no quarrel with 
Spain and was not even by declaration at war with 
France. The government not only returned the 
Sandwich, but also held Jjack all the prize money 
earned by the Constitution during the cruise to 
pay damages. There may have been some justifi- 
cation in Commodore Talbot's mind for the cap- 
ture. The Spaniards did not object to the use of 
their ports for the benefit of French armed vessels, 
and it is probable that they violated their neutral- 
ity repeatedly. Still, this did not justify an Ameri- 
can officer in an illegal act. Upon the return of 
the Constitution to Boston in August, 1800, the 



CONSTRUCTION AND FIRST SERVICE 69 

Secretary of the Navy wrote a very glowing tribute 
to Commodore Talbot for his meritorious services 
in "protecting with effect a great proportion of 
our commerce, in laying the foundation of a perma- 
nent trade with San Domingo, and in causing the 
American character to be respected." He went 
back to his old station on the Constitution in No- 
vember and served until March, 1801, when the 
treaty with France removed all cause of friction, 
and the ships were recalled. 

By Act of Congress approved March 3, 1801, 
the Navy was reduced to a peace footing, and only 
those ships built expressly for the service were re- 
tained. The country had not yet reached the point 
of dealing adequately with the Algerian and Tri- 
politan pirates, and there was very little use for 
the heavy frigates. The crew of the Constitution 
was accordingly paid off, and the ship was dis- 
mantled at the Boston Navy Yard, where she lay 
from March, 1801, to August, 1803. On the 14th 
of that month she sailed for the Mediterranean 
under the command of Edward Preble, to serve as 
flagship on the blockade which broke the power of 
the corsair. She carried out as passengers Colonel 
Tobias Lear, Consul General of the United States 
to the Barbary States, and his wife. 

The officers attached to her at this time were : — 



70 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Captain, Edward Preble. 

Lieutenants, Thomas Robinson, William C Jenks, 
Joseph Tarbell, and Samuel Elbert. 

Sailing-master, Nathaniel Haraden. 

Midshipmen, Daniel S. Dexter, John M. Haswell, 
Ralph Izard, Charles Morris, John Rowe, Alexander 
Laws, John Davis, William Burrows, David Deacon, 
Heathcote J. Reed, James Nicholson, Leonard Hunne- 
well, Thomas Baldwin, Francis C. Hall, and John 
Thompson. 

Lieutenant Jenks left her at Gibraltar, and 
Lieutenant John H. Dent and Charles Gordon 
joined her. Midshipman Baldwin resigned, and 
the following midshipmen were transferred to 
her : — 

Henry Wads worth, Lewis Alexis, Christopher Gad sen, 
Joseph Israel, Charles G. Ridgely, Richard Carey, 
Robert Henley, Thomas MacDonough, and William 
Lewis. 



CHAPTER V 

WAR WITH TRIPOLI — EDWARD PREBLE 

The chain of events which led up to this voyage 
forms an interesting and instructive lesson on the 
impotency of our foreign relations one hundred 
years ago. The treaty with Algiers had awakened 
the cupidity of Tripoli, and the Dey complained to 
our consul that he was not receiving the attentions 
paid to Algiers and Tunis. He wanted a frigate 
like that presented to the former. This frigate 
had sailed from Portsmouth in 1798, under the 
following circumstances, as noticed in one of the 
journals : — 

CRESCENT FRIGATE 

Portsmouth Jan. 20th. 
On Thursday morning about sunrise, a gun was dis- 
charged from the Crescent frigate as a signal for getting 
under way ; and at 10, A. M., she cleared the harbor, 
with a fine leading breeze. May they arrive in safety 
at the place of their destination, and present to the Dey 
of Algiers, one of the finest specimens of elegant naval 
architecture which was ever borne on the Piscataqua's 
waters. 



72 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Blow all ye winds that fill the prosperous sail, 
And hushed in peace be every adverse gale. 

The Crescent is a present from the United States to 
the Dey, as compensation for delay in not fulfilling our 
treaty stipulations in proper time. 

Richard O'Brien, Esq., who was ten years a prisoner 
at Algiers, took passage in the above frigate, and is 
to reside at Algiers as Consul General of the United 
States to all the Barbary States. 

The Crescent has many valuable presents on board 
for the Dey, and when she sailed was supposed to be 
worth at least three hundred thousand dollars. 

Twenty-six barrels of dollars constituted a part of her 
cargo. 

It is worthy of remark, that the captain, chief of 
the officers, and many of the privates of the Crescent 
frigate, have been prisoners at Algiers. 

There was a certain delicacy in manning the 
ship with former captives of the Dey which could 
not fail to propitiate and please him. He grew to 
regard himself as having a certain proprietary in- 
terest in all our ships, and two years later, when 
Captain Bainbridge arrived in the George Wash- 
ington with the tribute, he ordered her to Constan- 
tinople with an ambassador and presents to the 
Sultan. Bainbridge yielded to this demand, under 
the advice of our consul, for the sake of American 
commerce in the Mediterranean. We had upwards 
of 200 sail entirely unprotected within reach of the 



WAR WITH TRIPOLI 73 

Dey and his corsairs. The George Washington 
returned to Algiers with a firman from the Sultan 
which frightened the Dey, and Bainbridge made 
use of his temporary panic to secure the liberation 
of the French Consul and sixty of his countrymen. 
A letter to the President of the United States 
from the Dey of Tripoli in May, 1800, reads as 
follows : 

"After having cultivated the branches of our good 
will, and paved the way for a good understanding and 
perfect friendship, which we wish may continue forever, 
we make known, that tlie object and contents of this our 
present letter is, that whereas, your consul, who resides 
at our court in your service, has communicated to us, in 
your name, that you have written to him that you re- 
garded the regency of Tripoli in the same point of view 
as the other regencies of Barbary, and to be upon the 
same footing of friendship and importance. In order 
further to strengthen the bonds of a good understanding, 
blessed be God, may he complete and grant to you his 
high protection. But our sincere friend, we could wish 
that these your expressions were followed by deeds, and 
not by empty words. You will therefore endeavor to 
satisfy us by a good manner of proceeding. We, on 
our part, will correspond with you with equal friendship, 
as well in words as deeds. But if only flattering words 
are meant without performance, every one will act as 
he finds convenient : we beg a speedy answer, without 
neglect of time, as a delay on your part cannot but be 
prejudicial to your interests." 



74 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

The President was negligent about soothing the 
injured feelings of this Oriental gentleman, and 
accordingly, May 14, 1801, he ordered the American 
flagstaff cut down in token of a declaration of war, 
and told the American consul he could go or stay. 
The Dey of Tunis was also displeased, and de- 
manded various gifts, principally forty cannon, all 
to be 24-pounders, and ten thousand stands of arms. 
He wanted them at once. Released from the diffi- 
culty with France, the United States was able to 
send a squadron to the Mediterranean in the 
summer of 1801. Commodore Richard Dale was 
ordered over with four ships simply to observe the 
ports of the Barbary States. He was directed not 
to go beyond the line of defense. In consequence, 
a Tripolitan armed vessel captured by the Enter- 
prise was released after being dismantled and 
stripped of her guns. Commodore Dale succeeded 
in protecting American ships by convoy and by a 
display of force in the North African ports, but his 
orders were too limited for effective work and his 
ships were not suitable ; besides, the time of his 
men ran out, and he was relieved early in 1802 by 
Commodore Richard V. Morris with a squadron of 
six ships. This squadron accomplished practically 
nothing, for which Commodore Morris was sus- 
pended by the President in June, 1803. He was 
directed to turn over his command to Captain 
Rodgers, pending the arrival of Commodore Preble. 



WAR WITH TRIPOLI 75 

The Constitution reached Gibraltar on Septem- 
ber 12, 1803, just twenty-nine days from Boston, 
and met there three ships of Morris's squadron, — 
the Adams, on the eve of returning to the United 
States with Morris, and the New York and John 
Adams under John Rodgers, who was also ordered 
to bring his ships home. The Philadelphia had 
arrived out in August, the Nautilus in July, and 
several other ships joined later. By November 
1, Preble had under his command the following 
vessels : — 



Constitution 


44 guns Edward Preble 


Philadelphia 


44 ' 


' William Bainbridge 


Argus 


16 * 


' Isaac Hull 


Siren 


16 ' 


' Charles Stewart 


Vixen 


14 ' 


* John Smith 


Nautilus 


12 ' 


' Richard Somers 


Enterprise 


12 ' 


' Stephen Decatur 



The government, having discovered by experi- 
ence with two different squadrons that frigates 
were too heavy for the service before Tripoli and 
Tunis, had authorized the construction of four 
small vessels early in 1803. The work on them 
was pushed as rapidly as possible, and they were 
sent to the Mediterranean, one at a time, as they 
were completed. Of these, the Argus and Siren 
were brigs, the Vixen and Nautilus schooners. 
The Enterprise was a schooner left on the station 



76 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

from Commodore Morris's command. They were 
intended for inshore work, where light draught was 
a necessity. The character of the north coast of 
Africa rendered navigation for large ships very 
dangerous when pursuing the smaller piratical 
craft, which could run for refuge into any of the 
shallow bays and inlets. The Constitution and the 
Philadelphia were really too heavy for blockade 
duty on the south shore of the Mediterranean, and 
too light for the bombardment of fortifications, 
so that their places seemed as convoys ; but the 
United States possessed nothing better. The line- 
of- battle -ships were not built until afterwards. 
Commodore Preble's little fleet has been called the 
nursery of the Navy, or the training-school of the 
War of 1812, and its commander had so great an 
influence in shaping the characters of a number of 
men who were destined to mould the chaotic mass 
of ships and men then called the Navy into a well- 
disciplined service, that he deserves more than 
a passing mention. The importance of having 
a clear head at the beginning of things cannot be 
overestimated. We owe to Preble more than the 
release from the pirates of North Africa. The 
spectacular always has a great attraction, and in 
the heroic deeds of our young sailors and the glitter 
of arms as they fought hand to hand with the cor- 
sairs, we must not lose sight of the long weeks of 



EDWARD PREBLE 77 

preparation and the wise guidance of impetuous 
seamen to a single end. 

Edward Preble was born at Portland, Maine, 
in 1761, and obtained his early education at the 
Dummer Academy. His father designed him for 
a professional career, but at sixteen the boy ran 
away from the farm on which they lived, and 
enlisted on a privateer commanded by William 
French. In 1779 his father obtained a midship- 
man's warrant for him in the Massachusetts State 
Marine, and he went to sea on the Protector, a 
26-gun ship commanded by J. F. Williams. He 
was in two actions with the British, and was taken 
prisoner and sent to New York, where he would 
have experienced much privation but for a friend 
of his father's who secured his release. He 
promptly joined the Winthrop, as first lieutenant, 
and distinguished himself greatly in a successful 
cutting-out expedition under the guns of Castine. 

He subsequently spent fifteen years in the mer- 
chant-service and saw much of the world. D urine* 
the preparation for war with France he re.ceived a 
commission as lieutenant in the Navy, in April, 

1798. Although ordered to the Constitution, he 
succeeded in obtaining command of the Pickering, 
a revenue cutter. Promoted to captain in June, 

1799, he was placed in command of the Essex, and 
sailed to the East Indies to convoy home a fleet of 



78 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

merchantmen. In January, 1802, he was ordered 
to command the frigate Adams, but was released 
from that duty on account of sickness ; and in May, 
1803, he was detailed to get the Constitution ready 
for service in the Mediterranean. He was one of 
the best of our early seamen, and as an officer 
earned the good will of all who served under him. 
Notwithstanding this, his subordinates disliked 
him at first, and time was required to discover 
beneath a violent temper kindness and justice. 
His discipline was rigid, but applications to serve 
under him were numerous. The great responsi- 
bility of the Mediterranean station, with insuffi- 
cient means to carry out the designs of Congress, 
demanded an organizing ability altogether differ- 
ent from that displayed in the great single actions 
of the Navy. It was undertaken and supported 
without flinching, although he was gradually sink- 
ing under bodily infirmity. He took command of 
the squadron at the age of forty-two and died four 
years later. 

The following incident of the voyage out is re- 
lated by Morris, who was then serving as a mid- 
shipman on board. It is quite evident that Preble 
began the cruise with considerable friction : — 

" We had nothing of interest on the passage until 
near the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar, when, upon 
a very dark evening, with very light winds, we suddenly 



EDWARD PREBLE 79 

found ourselves near a vessel wliicli was evidently a ship 
of war. The crew were immediately but silently brought 
to quarters, after which the Commodore gave the usual 
hail, ' What shij) is that ? ' The same question was 
returned ; in reply to which the name of our ship was 
given, and the question repeated. Again the question 
was returned instead of an answer, and again our ship's 
name given and the question repeated, without other 
reply than its repetition. The Commodore's patience 
seemed now exhausted, and, taking the trumpet, he 
hailed and said, ' I am now going to hail you for the 
last time. If a f>roper answer is not returned, I will 
fire a shot into you.' A prompt answer came back, 
* If you fire a shot, I will return a broadside.' Preble 
then hailed, ' What ship is that ? ' The reply was, 
' This is His Britannic Majesty's ship Donnegal, eighty- 
four guns, Sir Richard Strahan, an English Commodore. 
Send your boat on board.' Under the excitement of 
the moment, Preble leaped on the hammocks and re- 
turned for answer, ' This is the United States ship Con- 
stitution, forty-four guns, Edward Preble, an American 
Commodore, who will be damned before he sends his 
boat on board of any vessel.' And, turning to the 
crew, he said, ' Blow your matches, boys.' The con- 
versation here ceased, and soon after a boat was heard 
coming from the stranger, and arrived with a lieutenant 
from the frigate Maidstone. The object of this ofiicer 
was to apologize for the apparent rudeness which had 
been displayed. He stated that our ship had not been 
seen until we had hailed them ; that it was, of course, 



80 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

very important to gain time to bring their men to quar- 
ters, especially as it was ap^Darent we were not English, 
and they had no expectation of meeting an American 
ship of war there ; and that this object had induced 
their delay and misrepresentation in giving the ship's 
name. The excuses were deemed satisfactory, and the 
ships separated. This was the first occasion that had 
offered to show us what we might expect from our com- 
mander, and the spirit and decision which he displayed 
were hailed with pleasure by all, and at once mitigated 
greatly the unfriendly feelings which the exhibitions of 
his temper had produced." 

Although the squadron formed only a fraction 
of our available sea force, a large majority of the 
officers who distinguished themselves in the War 
of 1812 served under Preble before Tripoli. De- 
catur, Hull, Stewart, Biddle, Macdonough, Law- 
rence, Warrington, Chauncey, and Burrows, were all 
men much above the average. Bain bridge, Jones, 
and Porter were prisoners in Tripoli, and Perry had 
gone home in the Adams just after the new squad- 
ron came out. All of the commanding officers 
were young. Not one had reached the age of 
thirty when Preble first met them for a conference 
in his cabin. He felt that the government had 
not dealt fairly with him in sending out a lot of 
boys. In fact, he expressed his dissatisfaction to 
Mr. Lear, who was on board. When afterwards 




EDWAKD PKEHLE 



EDWARD PREBLE 81 

reminded that he had called them boys, he said, 
" Yes, but they are good boys." He also told Mr. 
Lear that no commander was ever blessed with 
better officers. It was perhaps the intimate per- 
sonal association with Preble and with one another 
in a very trying and difficult service that went far 
to form their characters and to fit them for the 
more independent commands which came after- 
wards. We probably owe more than the conquest 
of Tripoli to this association. Personal acquaint- 
ance and sympathy have much to do with success 
in any service, and Commodore Preble seems to 
have had the faculty of inspiring young men to do 
their best without jealousies. There was not a 
court-martial or duel during his entire command. 

The means placed in Preble's hands were en- 
tirely inadequate, and the Secretary said as much. 
The Department left him to create his own force 
as best he could, and this he accomplished partly 
by capture and partly by purchase of gunboats and 
bomb- vessels. The base of supplies was so remote 
and the Navy Department so poorly organized to 
meet the constant needs of the squadron that 
Preble often had great difficulty in obtaining pro- 
visions. Everything had to go out from home, on 
account of the great scarcity in the Mediterranean, 
where the English and French ships were strug- 
gling for supremacy. The surgeon reported that 



82 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

many of the men were on the sick list because 
they were insufficiently clad, and much of the food 
which reached them from home was spoiled. Add 
to this the fact that the United States had no 
recognized position abroad, no reciprocity treaties 
with foreign countries, and that drafts were diffi- 
cult to negotiate, and we get some idea of the ob- 
stacles whicli confronted our ships four thousand 
miles away from their own ports with very irregu- 
lar communication. The wonder is that they ac- 
complished anything. All of them were short of 
men, and contained a great many foreigners in 
their complements. 

Some light is thrown on the impressment con- 
troversy with England by the enlistment of the 
Constitution's crew. Preble had had great dif- 
ficulty in obtaining seamen, as the government 
would not pay as much wages as could be earned 
in the merchant-service, and the men whom he did 
engage were principally foreigners. He wrote to 
the Department, " I do not believe that I have 
twenty native American sailors on board." The 
Philadelphia was about as badly off, and we find 
Bainbridge after her capture by the Tripolitans 
suggesting to Preble the propriety of allowing 
Nelson to claim the English subjects among her 
crew, three fourths of them being of that descrip- 
tion, in order to release them from captivity and 



EDWARD PREBLE 83 

slavery. There were frequent desertions to Brit- 
ish ships of war, so that Preble felt himself obliged 
to remove his provisions and stores from their 
ports, and to make Syracuse the port of deposit. 

In these days of steam the younger generation 
cannot realize the tremendous task of holding 
upon the blockade both winter and summer a lot 
of vessels dependent entirely upon their sails for 
propulsion. And Tripoli was particularly unfavor- 
able for such work. The prevailing wind during 
the winter months was from the north and east, 
with an occasional hurricane from that direction, 
making it exceedingly dangerous for a ship to 
be caught in the angle formed by the shores of 
Tunis and Tripoli. The first indications of a gale 
forced the ships to claw off and to make easting if 
possible. An extract from the Constitution's log 
shows how the officers regarded the coast. " The 
weather to the northward has every appearance of 
a strong breeze from that quarter. A heavy gale 
from the N. E. or the N. N. E. would make our 
situation very disagreeable. It would expose us 
to an enemy's coast, the angular position of which 
to the Northward and Westward makes it neces- 
sary to avoid that part by standing to the East- 
ward. We could only lay the coast along and of 
course afford no drift or leeway. The horrors of 
shipwreck added to irretrievable slavery makes the 



84 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

coast very dangerous in tlie winter. If any cruises 
on this coast in a heavy gale on shore, they have 
no other safety but their sails, and if they once 
lose them, they lose all hoj^es of a retreat." 

Before going into the Mediterranean, Preble 
found it advisable to secure the Straits for the free 
entrance of American ships. There was good 
ground for believing that the Emperor of Morocco 
had broken the treaty signed by his father, as 
the Philadelphia on her way out had run across 
the Moorish cruiser Mirboka in possession of an 
American merchantman. Bainbridge had taken 
them into Gibraltar, where another cruiser, the 
Meshouda, was held by the squadron. She had 
been captured while trying to run the blockade of 
Tripoli, but she was claimed by the Moors. Preble 
determined to use his squadron and these two 
prizes, the former by way of intimidation and the 
latter for the purpose of exchange, in restoring 
the ancient amity between our country and Mo- 
rocco. The decision was wise. Considering the 
fact that all of his supplies had to pass through 
the same way, he could not afford to leave an 
enemy in his rear, and that too in the very neck 
of the bottle which he was entering. 

He accordingly sent the Philadelphia and the 
Vixen to establish once more the blockade of Tri- 
poli, and he then crossed over to Tangier in the 



EDWARD PREBLE 85 

Constitution, accompanied by the Nautilus and the 
John Adams, the last named under Rodgers, who 
had generously waived his seniority over Preble 
for the good of the cause. The Constitution was 
kept cruising between Gibraltar and Tangier and 
off the coast of Morocco awaiting the arrival of 
the Emperor. Her movements were often delayed 
by unfavorable winds, as a head wind either in or 
out of the Strait rendered navigation difficult. 
But the time came at last when Preble, backed by 
a strong show of force, including the John Adams 
and the New York, was able to influence the war- 
like ruler into good behavior. A new treaty was 
signed, by the terms of which mutual concessions 
were made, but no tribute was paid. 

The two armed Moorish vessels in our posses- 
sion were returned, and a United States merchant- 
ship detained in a port of Morocco was released. 
Good care was taken to send a ship to see to the 
release, and a sharp eye was kept on the Moors 
for some time afterwards. They have never given 
us any trouble since. It is interesting to note, 
from an entry in the Constitution's log-book, Pre- 
ble's readiness to accept the alternative of peace 
without asking the President for a declaration of 
war. " October 5. At anchor in Tangier Bay. 
Men sleeping at the guns all night before. In 
the forenoon saw fully ten thousand Moorish in- 
habitants marching in from different directions." 



86 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

All of the ships were prudently kept ready for 
action until the Emperor's disposition was ascer- 
tained, and Preble wrote the following letter to 
the American consul : — 

U. S. S. Constitution, Tangier Bay, 
Six p. M. Oct. 4, 1803. 
I am honored with your communication of this even- 
ing. I shall not send a boat on shore until I have the 
Emperor's permission, but shall wait your communica- 
tion by a shore boat. 

As you think it will gratify his Imperial Majesty, I 
shall salute him and dress ship ; and if he is not dis- 
posed to be pacific, / will salute Mtu again. 

Respectfully, E. Preble. 

On October 17, the ship was back at Gibraltar, 
the last remnants of the preceding squadron had 
departed for home, and Preble was alone to work 
out his mission. He sailed for Cadiz on the 22d 
to o^et a new anchor and a stream cable, and to fill 
his casks with fresh water. On the return, he 
stopped at Tangier Bay to communicate with the 
consul and " to let the Moors know that he had 
not forgotten them," and reached Gibraltar Bay 
on November 6, where he found the Argus. 

On the 20th, he declared Tripoli in a state of 
blockade, and sent word to our ministers and to 
several of our consuls in Europe that he had done 
so. Only one more piece of business remained 



EDWARD PREBLE 



87 



before he could proceed to Syracuse, which had 
been selected for headquarters. He sailed on No- 
vember 13 with the Nautilus and Argus to land 
Colonel Lear at Algiers, and having accomplished 
this one week later, he was free to sail for the ren- 
dezvous on the 22d. On the 24th, he spoke the 
British ship Amazon off the coast of Sardinia, and 
heard of the loss of the frigate Philadelphia, and 
on the 28th, he finally came to anchor in the 




DeseH ofBarca Alexandria 
SV >7 



MEDITERRANEAN PORTS 



harbor of Syracuse, having touched at Malta for 
confirmation of the bad news. 

It seemed as if fate were against the expedition. 
The loss of the Philadelphia deprived the squadron 
of fully one third of its strength. One of the 
smaller vessels was needed, for a few months at 
least, to guard the Straits ; and Preble thus had 
left the Constitution and four small vessels. To 
add to his perplexity the winter season had come 
on, and he was forced by the dangerous nature of 



88 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

the coast to postpone active operations against the 
city six or seven months. In the mean time he 
made every effort to maintain the hazardous block- 
ade. The disaster to the Philadelphia occurred on 
October 31, two weeks before Preble left Gibraltar 
for the East. Soon after Bainbridge arrived off 
the harbor of Tripoli, he sent the Vixen in search 
of a cruiser that had come out a few days before. 
He was thus left to maintain the blockade alone 
with a ship entirely too deep for inshore work. A 
gale of wind swept him to the eastward, and, while 
returning before a fair breeze, he sighted a large 
xebec standing into Tripoli. With his usual im- 
petuosity, he chased her close inshore within three 
miles of the town, but she escaped. In hauling off, 
the Philadelphia ran on a shelving rock, and her 
bow was lifted from three to four feet by the force 
of the blow. The position of this rock was not 
known to the Americans. The yards were braced 
aback, and the guns were run aft where the water 
was deeper, in the attempt to get her off. Nine of 
the enemy's gunboats came out at once, and Cap- 
tain Bainbridge hastened to have the forward guns 
and the anchors thrown overboard, but it was in 
vain ; the case was absolutely hopeless. The gun- 
boats had obtained a position from which they 
could fire upon the ship without a return fire, and 
there was nothing for the Americans to do but to 




Ward-Room 




G tin- Deck 




Berth-Deck 



INTEKIOK OF THE CONSTITUTION 



EDWARD PREBLE 89 

surrender. They made one last effort by pumping 
out the fresh water, throwing overboard all heavy 
articles and cutting away the foremast. Still the 
ship stuck hard and fast on the reef. Captain 
Bainbridge then flooded the magazines, scuttled 
the ship, and hauled down the flag to save the lives 
of his crew. Thus 22 officers and 293 men became 
prisoners of the Dey, and the Philadelphia was 
added to his possessions a few days later. A north- 
west gale piled up the sea around the rock, and 
the Tripoli tans were able to get her into a position 
from which she was easily floated. They raised 
the guns and proceeded to fit her for service. The 
loss of this ship had a baneful effect upon the war, 
as it gave the Dey something to trade upon and 
put into his possession a number of American 
sailors for ransom. Preble might well feel dis- 
tressed and embarrassed at the very outset of his 
mission. He never showed any lack of confidence 
in Bainbridge, however, and throughout his cap- 
tivity managed to send him a number of generous 
and sympathetic letters. One of these letters indi- 
cates the channel of communication as well as the 
good will he bore him. 

Malta, Jan. 23, 1804. 

You will receive a present supply of money from 
here through the British consul, B. McDonough, Esq., 
forwarded by Mr. Higgins. 



90 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Any letter you will direct to the care of William 
Higgins, Esq., whom I have appointed Agent at this 
post for the squadron of the United States in these seas, 
and I am confident that he will pay you every attention. 
The clothing and other stores which ought to have been 
with you six weeks since, were detained by Mr. Pulis ; 
and for what reason, I know not. Your drafts on Mr. 
Higgins will be duly honored. Keep up your spirits, 
and despair not ; recollect there 's a sweet little cherub 
that sits up aloft. 

May the Almighty Disposer of all events aid me in 
my plans and operations for the good of my country, 
and may you be liberated by them is the hope of 
Your friend who esteems you, 

Edward Preble. 

The chart of the harbor will disclose a number 
of shallows in the approaches and a long line of 
reefs running to the eastward. The anchorage lies 
behind this barrier, well protected against westerly 
and northerly gales. There are several entrances, 
but they demand a good knowledge of the sur- 
rounding rocks to be used by vessels of any 
draught. Once inside the line of shallows, it 
would have been difficult for a large ship to get 
out even with a chart, and the only valid criticism 
against Bainbridge was that he let his ship be 
drawn too far in. There was no survey at that 
time, and he had no means of knowing the coast. 



EDWARD PREBLE 91 

The sounding lead was kept going, and the Phila- 
delphia was in six or seven fathoms of water just 
before she struck. Captain Bainbridge has always 
been held blameless for an accident that was bit- 
terly expiated in eighteen months' captivity under 
horrible conditions. 

As an example of the difficulties in the mainte- 
nance of communication between the flagship and 
the other members of the squadron, the voyage of 
the Vixen to the westward may be cited. She was 
at Malta when news of the Philadelphia's loss 
reached her. Lieutenant Smith immediately sailed 
for Gibraltar to notify Commodore Preble, but in 
the stress of heavy weather probably passed him 
not far from Algiers. After twenty days of con- 
trary winds, he had made good only one third of 
the distance to the Straits and found himself short 
of provisions. He therefore returned to Malta, 
which he must have reached just after the Consti- 
tution had left, and, having taken on board pro- 
visions, sailed for Syracuse. The distance was 
only about one hundred miles to the northwest, 
and yet the Vixen was thirty days getting to her 
anchorage. There is a constant note of delay in 
the Constitution's log. She, or one of the other 
vessels of the squadron, was repeatedly detained 
for days inside of the harbor, when she wanted to 
get out, or outside when she wanted to get in. 



92 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Every movement depended on the wind. There 
was no limit to the patience and perseverance de- 
manded of the officers, and much was of necessity 
left to the discretion of the various commanding 
officers when separated from the commander-in- 
chief. 



CHAPTER VI 

CONCLUSION OP THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI — SER- 
VICE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 

It is not the purpose of this volume to give a 
complete account of the war with Tripoli. It was 
carried on mainly by the smaller ships, but every 
expedition was planned on the Constitution, which 
was kept incessantly active. Preble's plan was 
evidently to seal up the port of Tripoli to com- 
merce by keeping one or more ships constantly on 
the blockade ; and, when he got everything in 
readiness, to make an assault on the walls and 
fortifications. The Dey had accumulated nineteen 
gunboats, and had fortified the town and outlying 
regions. He employed the crew of the Philadelphia 
at the latter work. On December 17, the Consti- 
tution sailed with the Vixen and the Enterprise on 
a cruise, evidently of observation, after having 
waited four days to get out of the harbor; they 
were finally towed out by the squadron's boats. 
They stopped at Malta for dispatches, and then 
headed for the coast of Tripoli. A Tripoli tan 



94 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

ketch was sighted on the 23d, and, by displaying 
Enflish colors in the fleet, the Enterprise was 
able to capture her. She proved to be the Mas- 
tico, carrying blacks as a present to the Sultan 
of Turkey. Several officers of distinction on 
board were taken to the Commodore's table. On 
the 24th they arrived off Tripoli, but a gale 
from the northeast blew up, and, after having 
beaten about for four days in the triangle formed 
by Tripoli, Tunis^ and Malta, the Constitution took 
the ketch in tow and sailed for Syracuse. She re- 
mained in port from January 1 to March 1, 1804, 
but Preble made a voyage to Malta in the Vixen 
during the interval. The smaller ships were con- 
stantly coming and going. 

On the night of February 16, the Philadelphia 
was burned by American sailors under Decatur. 
This expedition had been planned early in Decem- 
ber by Preble. Later he received letters from 
Bainbridge suggesting that the ship should be de- 
stroyed, and giving him information about her 
position and the surrounding batteries. This cor- 
respondence was carried on by the aid of the 
Danish consul, Mr. Nicholas Nissan. The secret 
part of it is said to have been written in sympa- 
thetic ink. Decatur had volunteered to go in with 
his own ship, the Enterprise, and capture her by 
board ino- ; and later Stewart had offered to cut her 



*fc> ' 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 95 

out with the Siren. Preble substituted the ketch, 
a duty for which she was adapted on account of 
her general appearance. She was fitted out for the 
purpose at Syracuse, and rechristened Intrepid. 
The destination of this vessel must have been kept 
a secret in the fleet until the last moment ; for as 
late as February 1, the Constitution's log contains 
an entry stating that the prize was being fitted for 
some expedition under Decatur. She sailed on 
February 2, in company with the 'Siren. Her crew 
was made up of volunteers from the Enterprise, 
Decatur's ship, and five midshipmen from the 
Constitution. There were eleven officers, among 
them Decatur, Lawrence, Joseph Bainbridge, Mor- 
ris and Macdonough, a Maltese pilot, and sixty- 
two enlisted men. The pilot, Salvadore Catalano, 
afterwards became a sailing master in the United 
States Navy. Commodore Morris says in his 
journal that a boat with six men joined them from 
the Siren before going in. This would make a 
crew of eighty men in all. 

In this wretched boat, rigged for sixteen oars, 
and hardly larger than a fay'-sized sailing yacht, 
seventy-four men reached the coast four days later, 
convoyed by the brig Siren under the command of 
Charles Stewart, and headed for a passage through 
the rocks to the inner harbor. 

She arrived in sight of the town on the afternoon 



96 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

of the 6tli, and anchored off the entrance at night- 
fall ; but a sudden and violent gale swept her to the 
eastward, and both she and the Siren had to ride 
out at sea a terrific storm that lasted six days and 
nights. At times it was feared that the Intrepid 
could not last through it ; but the seventh day 
found both vessels near the harbor, once more in 
favorable weather. The Siren, well disguised, did 
not approach within sight of the coast during day- 
light, but the Intrepid sailed calmly for the port 
as if on an ordinary trading voyage. Several of 
the boats of the Siren were to join her before 
going in, but Decatur did not wait for them. The 
uncertainty of the weather forbade delay. He had 
made all his arrangements to burn the Phila- 
delphia, and then to escape by towing or rowing the 
Intrepid out of the harbor under cover of the dark- 
ness. Every man had his allotted station and task. 
As soon as the frigate was taken each was to rush 
with combustibles to a specified place. The greater 
part of the crew lay hidden behind the bulwarks, 
as the ketch drifted slowly down in the half dark- 
ness of a new moon to the anchorage. 

It is well to stop a moment to consider what one 
mistake would have cost them. The Philadelphia 
had a full crew, all her guns were loaded, and she 
was surrounded by Tripolitan gunboats. Not one 
of the Americans could have escaped if the slightest 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 97 

suspicion had been aroused before boarding; yet 
they went boldly on to within a few feet of the 
Philadelphia, and, when hailed, the Maltese pilot 
replied that the ketch was a Maltese trader that 
had lost her anchors in the storm. They asked 
for a line and permission to tie up to the ship over 
night. They lay only forty yards from the port 
battery, and in the range of every gun at this 



2 ■■■' \ / ;$''* 



The U.S.Fr{aate-- l'h,ladtlph,i," \ 
erounded on thit thoal (Jct.io 1803 /' 






.^^ 




TRIPOLI HAKBOR 



time. While Decatur coolly sent a boat to make 
fast to the fore chains of the Philadelphia, some of 
the latter's crew came out with a line from the 
stern, and assisted them in making fast there also. 
A few minutes of cautious pulling on the bow line, 
then a wild cry of "Americanos!" from a Turk 
who was looking over the bulwarks, and the Amer- 
icans were clambering up the side in a scramble 



98 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

to see who would be first on the frigate's deck. 
In a mad panic the crew were either cut down or 
driven into the sea. Everything worked exactly 
as Decatur had planned it, and within twenty 
minutes the ship was ablaze. His men were fairly 
driven back into their boat by the flames. 

The return was even more perilous than the 
entrance, as all the forts and gunboats had taken 
the alarm. Their shots were falling around the 
Intrepid and dashing the spray into the faces of 
her men, as she swept down the harbor under six- 
teen long oars. The flames of the Philadelphia, 
the roaring of her guns as they went off one by 
one in the intense heat, the blinding flashes of the 
Turkish guns, and the uproar in the town, made 
the night one never to be forgotten ; a fit ending 
to what Nelson pronounced " the most bold and 
daring act of the age." Decatur rejoined Stewart, 
who was waiting for him outside, and the two set 
sail for Syracuse. 

The log of the Constitution has the following 
entry concerning this event: — 

Sunday, Feby. 19. — a. m. At 10 appeared in the 
offing the United States Brig Syren and the Intrepid. 
The wind being light we sent boats out to assist towing 
in. At ^ past 10 they passed through our squadron in 
triumph receiving three cheers as they passed. Lieu- 
tenant Stewart of the Syren and Lieutenant Decatur of 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 99 

the Intrepid waited on the Commodore and informed 
him they had passed into the harbor of TripoU agreeably 
to his orders, burnt and totally destroyed the late United 
States Frigate Philadelphia. The business being so 
well planned not a man was killed or wounded on our 
side. The Tripolitans had 20 killed, the others made 
their escape by jumping overboard after the ship was 
afire. 

The officer who wrote the log was evidently not 
well informed, as Stewart did not go in with De- 
catur. If that was the original plan, the conditions 
of the weather did not favor it. 

This deed deserves to rank high in the annals of 
our Navy, not so much because it displayed an 
uncommon courage, but rather because of the skill 
and coolness which made it a complete success. 
Few American sailors are without daring to under- 
take a hazardous service, yet few men have the 
necessary presence of mind to carry it through 
without a hitch. Three times the expedition was 
recovered from failure by the exercise of the good 
judgment which marks Decatur's career. 

The extraordinary activity of the Constitution 
during the spring and summer of 1804 was almost 
like the work of a modern steamer. She left Syra- 
cuse on the 1st of March, and had put to sea nine- 
teen times from that or other ports by the end of 
July, being under sail half the time. March 27, 

LafC. 



100 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Preble was at Tripoli, and sent a flag of truce in 
with letters for the captive officers. He proposed 
an exchange of prisoners, but failed to secure the 
consent of the Dey. Permission was given to send 
provisions and clothing for the captives. Three 
days later, the ship was caught in a heavy north- 
east gale and swept to the westward along the 
coast. During the month of April she was twice 
in the harbor of Tunis to keep an eye on the Dey 
and his navy. Toward the end of the month the 
Siren captured a Tripolitan brig used for carrying 
military stores. She was refitted and called the 
Scourge. Preble now made a voyage to Naples 
for the purpose of obtaining money and additional 
gunboats. He succeeded in getting an order from 
the King for gunboats and bomb-vessels "under 
the title of a friendly loan." They were found at 
Messina, from which port the Constitution sailed 
in convoy of six gun-vessels and two mortar-boats 
with their ammunition. Having reached Syracuse 
and left them to be gotten ready for service, she 
sailed successively to Malta, Tripoli, and Tunis. 
She touched at the last place to ascertain why so 
many Tunisian cruisers had put to sea. On the 
25th of June they were back in Syracuse, where 
Preble addressed himself seriously to preparations 
for an attack on the ships and fortifications of 
Tripoli. He sailed for that purpose on July 14, 



• 



r 




CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 101 

with the gun-vessels and mortar-boats in tow, and 
reached the coast on the 24th. 

As he was already short of men for his own 
ships, the boats borrowed from Naples were in part 
manned by ISTeapolitans shipped for the occasion. 
Not one of these vessels exceeded thirty tons bur- 
den, and they were but poor craft, fit only for use 
in a smooth sea and needing much " nursing " at 
all times. Each of the bomb-vessels mounted one 
13-inch brass mortar, and had a crew of forty 
men, and each of the gunboats carried a long 24- 
pounder in the bow. The defenses of the Dey 
were very formidable. The city was walled, and 
the shore batteries mounted 119 guns, many of 
heavy calibre. In the harbor were nineteen gun- 
boats, two large galleys, two schooners and a brig, 
all well armed and manned. The Tripolitan force 
on shore and afloat numbered upwards of 25,000, 
to oppose the American squadron carrying 1060 
men. Preble had in all one frigate, three brigs, 
three schooners, six gunboats, and two mortar- 
boats. The Constitution carried at this time thirty 
long 24-pounders on the gun-deck, and six long 26- 
pounders and some lighter guns on the forecastle 
and quarter-deck. 

The work for which the squadron had been 
patiently preparing during the past ten months had 
come at last, and they went at it with ferocious 



102 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

energy. They made five attacks between July 25 
and September 4, in three of which the Constitu- 
tion took part ; in fact, they were pounding away 
at the forts and gunboats whenever the weather 
would permit. On the 24th, the water -casks 
of the smaller boats were all filled from the 
flagship as a precautionary measure, since they 
carried only six days' supply. The first assault 
was planned for the next day, but the wind 
proved unfavorable. Again, on the 28th, they 
were headed in and anchored within two and a half 
miles of the town. The plan was to tow the gun- 
boats, arranged in two divisions, and the mortar- 
boats as close to the shore as it was possible for 
the heavier vessels to go, and then to cast them off 
and cover them with the squadron's guns for an 
attack upon the Tripolitan gunboats inshore. 
With this attack in view the ships had anchored, 
but a sudden change of wind, which developed 
into a northeast gale, drove them to sea for several 
days. On the 31st, the gale had become so 
violent as to split the Constitution's foresail and 
main topsail, although she was under double reefs, 
and the gunboats were in great danger. 

The first attack was finally carried out on the 
afternoon of August 4, with the wind east by south. 
The whole fleet stood in to point-blank range of 
the batteries and shipping. Their position is 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 103 

shown on the chart just outside the barrier reef 
and nearly north of the two western entrances. 
The six gunboats then advanced to attack the 
Tripolitan gunboats, twenty-one of which had come 
outside in three divisions. The action began by a 
bomb-vessel throwing a shell into the town, and 
lasted about two hours, when the ships were com- 
pelled to haul off by a change of wind. 

The furious charge of the small vessels upon 
three and a half times their number soon unde- 
ceived the Tripolitan s, who had come out in the 
belief that the Americans would not fight. The 
conflicts were like the traditional old sea-fights, 
hand to hand on the decks of the enemy, who fought 
desperately enough when boarded by the Americans. 
They were driven back into the harbor with severe 
loss in killed and wounded. Three of their gun- 
boats were brought away with fifty-two prisoners, 
some of whom died of their wounds ; forty-four 
had been killed outright before the boats were 
surrendered. The American vessels had suffered 
only slightly in killed and wounded. James De- 
catur was treacherously killed in the act of board- 
ing a Tripolitan who had surrendered to him. 
Three boats were sunk in the harbor, and as many 
more had their decks nearly cleared of men. A 
number of shells burst in the town and batteries, 
and a minaret was knocked down. The inhabitants 



104 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

were panic-stricken. The Constitution fired 262 
round shot, beside grape, double-head, and canister. 
She received some damage in her rigging and sails 
from the Tripolitan fire, and a 24-pound shot struck 
her mainmast, but the squadron came out with 
remarkably little injury considering the serious 
nature of the action and the effect accomplished. 

The wounded were all carried on board the Con- 
stitution for the surgeon's care, and the prisoners 
were confined on board of her. In his report 
Commodore Preble speaks in the highest terms of 
Decatur and Trippe and of all the officers and 
crews. Yet he was greatly disappointed in not 
having destroyed the whole fleet. There is a story 
that when Decatur came over the side, he walked 
joyfully up to Preble on the quarter-deck and said, 
*' Well, Commodore, I have brought you out three 
of the gunboats." Preble turned on him like a 
flash, and taking him by the collar replied, " Aye, 
sir, why did you not bring me out more ? " and 
then walked into his cabin. He sent for Decatur 
in a few minutes and made ample amends for his 
rage and injustice. They were always warm friends 
afterwards. 

The stubborn nature of the fighting is exhibited 
by two stories told in footnotes of the Naval 
Chronicle. Decatur boarded a gunboat, it is said, 
to avenge his brother's death. He made straight 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 105 

for her commander, a gigantic Turk, greatly his 
superior in size and strength, and in the struggle 
which ensued broke his sword. The two seized 
each other in a violent scuffle, in which Decatur 
was thrown. The Turk drew a dagger to stab 
him, but he managed to get hold of a pistol which 
he had in the right-hand pocket of his trousers. 
By twisting it around and cocking it inside of the 
pocket he succeeded in firing it and killing his an- 
tagonist. During the struggle one of the Tripol- 
itans rushed forward to save his captain, and aimed 
a blow at Decatur's head, but a young man by the 
name of Reuben James, who had lost the use of 
his arms by severe wounds, threw his body for- 
ward and took the blow intended for Decatur on 
his own head. He lived to receive a pension from 
the government thirty years later. 

Lieutenant Trippe, with Midshipman Henley 
and nine men, boarded one of the gunboats manned 
by thirty-six men. Against desperate resistance 
he captured the boat, after having killed fourteen 
Tripolitans and taken twenty-two prisoners. 
Trippe received eleven sabre wounds, but not an 
American was killed. 

The next three days were spent in refitting and 
getting ready for another attack; the three Tri- 
politan gunboats were manned and added to the 
attacking squadron. A French privateer which 



106 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

had come out was prevailed upon to carry fourteen 
badly wounded Tripolitans on shore, where their 
friends might take care of them. The vessel 
brought out a letter from the French consul on the 
morning of the 7th, saying that since the attack 
the Dey was disposed to accept reasonable terms, 
and advising Commodore Preble to send in a flag 
of truce. This was declined, as the white flag was 
not hoisted on the Dey's castle, and the second 
attack began forthwith. The direction of the 
wind and current rendered it inadvisable to engage 
the batteries with the Constitution ; so that all the 
work was done by the smaller vessels. The bomb- 
vessels were stationed to the west out of range of 
the batteries, where they could throw shells into 
the town ; and the gunboats, propelled by oars and 
sails, made an attack upon the western batteries. 
Five hundred and forty-eight shots were fired, and 
the town must have suffered great damage. The 
Tripolitan ships had remained in the harbor behind 
the shelter of the rocks. Early in the action one 
of the prize gunboats was blown np by an ex- 
plosion of her magazine, which had been penetrated 
by a hot shot from the batteries. Lieutenant Cald- 
well, Midshipman Dorsey, and eight men were 
killed. The others escaped. Midshipman Spence 
gained great credit for remaining on board while 
the boat was sinking, to complete the loading of a 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 107 

gun which he had been superintending when the 
explosion occurred. He and a few survivors actu- 
ally fired the gun as the vessel sank, and escaped 
to the nearest boat. Mr. Spence did not know 
how to swim, and had to keep himself afloat with 
an oar. 

The squadron hauled off at six o'clock, the 
Argus having been sent in chase of a strange sail. 
This sail proved to be the John Adams, Captain 
Chauncey, just out from the United States with 
the news that the government had decided to as- 
semble an overwhelming force, and that several 
frigates were shortly to join under command of 
Commodore Samuel Barron, who was to supersede 
Preble. As the John Adams did not have her gun- 
carriage she was of no use to the squadron except- 
ing in the supply of additional men. Her crew 
were distributed around. Preble waited eleven 
days for the appearance of his successor, and then 
concluded to make another attack, but a northeast 
gale forced him to stand off the coast for greater 
safety. After four days of buffeting in a heavy sea, 
the ships stood in again and anchored six miles 
from Tripoli. During the stay on the coast the 
small ships had received their fresh water and 
supplies from the Constitution, and now arrived a 
supply-ship from Malta with water and live-stock, 
much to the gratification of all the crews. 



108 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

On August 10, the Dey indicated a disposition to 
treat by permitting a white flag to he hoisted by 
the French consul. A boat was sent in under a 
flag of truce, but the terras offered, a ransom of 
$500 for each captive and no tribute for terminat- 
ing the war, were not satisfactory to Preble, in 
spite of the tremendous reduction over any of the 
previous terms. He authorized the French consul 
to offer ilOO,000 in a lump sum, but this was not 
acceptable to the Dey. 

On the 24th, the squadron drew close to the 
harbor, intending to attack the town and ship- 
ping at night. It fell calm at midnight, and the 
smaller vessels had to be towed in. The bom- 
bardment lasted from two o'clock until daylight, 
principally from the mortar-boats, but little dam- 
age was done. One shell passed through the wall 
of the prison and struck the bed in which Captain 
Bainbridge was sleeping. A heap of stones and 
mortar fell on him, but he escaped with only slight 
injury. 

For a few days the weather was again unfavor- 
able for operations. On the night of the 28th, the 
ships moved in, prepared for another early morn- 
ing attack. The Constitution anchored about one 
mile and a half to the northeast of the entrance, 
while the smaller vessels went close to the rocks 
and opened a heavy fire upon everything in sight. 




m 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 10& 

The Tripolitans returned the fire without much 
effect, as the night doubtless covered the move- 
ments of our boats. At daylight, all vessels were 
recalled, and the Constitution stood in alone, under 
a heavy fire from the batteries, to within 400 
yards of the rocks. Preble wrote in his report 
to the Secretary of the Navy ; " We continued run- 
ning in, until we were within musket shot of the 
Crown and Mole batteries, when we brought to, 
and fired upwards of three hundred round shot, 
besides grape and canister, into the town. Bashaw's 
Castle, and batteries. We silenced the castle and 
two of the batteries for some time. At a quarter 
past six, the gunboats being all out of shot and in 
tow, I hauled off, after having been three quarters 
of an hour in close action. The gunboats fired 
upwards of four hundred round shot, besides grape 
and canister, with good effect. A large Tunisian 
galliot was sunk in the mole — a Spanish Sei- 
gnior received considerable damage. The Tripoline 
galleys and gunboats lost many men and were 
much cut." 

The Constitution suffered in her rigging, which 
was much cut up, and some grape-shot was found 
sticking in the hull, but not a man was hurt. 
Shortly after six o'clock, as stated in Preble's re- 
port, he hauled off to repair damages and prepare 
the fleet for another attack. Captain Chauncey, 



110 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

of the John Adams, served during this action and 
the next one on the deck of the Constitution. At 
noon all the ships were anchored about five miles 
to the eastward of Tripoli. 

They spent the next five days getting water and 
stores on board and otherwise putting everything 
in order. On September 3, with the wind east 
by north, the gunboats advanced against the Tri- 
politan fleet, which by rare judgment had moved 
up the harbor to the windward of the entrance, and 
near Fort English. As our ships could not beat 
up the harbor to attack them, the smaller vessels 
were all employed close to the rocks, firing at 
them. There was no boarding as in some of the 
earlier contests. The bomb-vessels and the Con- 
stitution attacked the town and the batteries. The 
latter fired eleven broadsides. The action lasted 
about an hour in the afternoon, when the wind 
shifted to the northward and began increasing. 
The squadron was accordingly withdrawn, having 
disabled a number of the enemy's galleys and gun- 
boats, and thrown a number of shells into the bat- 
teries and town. 

Preble at once began preparing his ships for an- 
other attack, although the weather was unsettled 
and he was getting short of ammunition. On 
the night of September 4, occurred that disaster 
which will always envelop the end of the Intrepid 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 111 

in a melancholy mystery. Commodore Preble had 
been contemplating for some time the possibility 
of sending a fire-ship into the harbor to destroy 
the enemy's shij^ping. Richard Somers, the com- 
mander of the Nautilus, volunteered for the ser- 
vice, and for several days had been directing 
the preparation of the Intrepid. One hundred 
barrels of powder were placed below her deck, 
upon which one hundred and fifty fixed shells were 




TRIPOLI FORTIFICATIONS, FROM SKETCH MADE BY HENRY 
WADSWORTH 

arranged. A fuse calculated to burn fifteen min- 
utes was led aft to a box filled with combustibles. 
The intention was to take the ketch into the har- 
bor on the first dark night that afforded them a 
favorable breeze, and to .explode her among the 
shipping. Two swift boats were carried in tow to 
provide for the escape of the crew, consisting of 
Captain Somers and four men from the Nautilus, 
with Lieutenants Henry Wads worth and Joseph 
Israel, and six men from the Constitution. At 
eight o'clock on September 4, the Intrepid was 



112 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

under sail standing for the western entrance. The 
Argus, Vixen, and Nautilus accompanied her as 
far as the rocks. The first lieutenant of the Nau- 
tilus was the last person to speak to Somers. The 
Intrepid was last seen standing into the harbor 
about a musket-shot from the mole, as her sails 
were swallowed up in the darkness. Soon after, 
the batteries, which had taken alarm, began firing 
in all directions from which danger might be appre- 
hended. To those waiting outside for the return 
of their comrades, there was only a short period 
of breathless suspense. Then, before the Intrepid 
could possibly have reached her intended position, 
there was a blinding flash, followed by a frightful 
concussion which shook even the American ships 
outside and awed the batteries into silence. For 
one instant the mast and sail outlined in fire were 
lifted into the air and then fell back into darkness. 
The three ships at the entrance waited all night, 
their crews listening in vain for the oars of the 
returning boats. They never came back, and from 
that day to this the cause of the explosion has been 
a matter of conjecture. Some of the officers held 
that the Intrepid grounded near one of the batteries 
and was blown up by a shot penetrating the maga- 
zine; others, that a light was dropped into the 
powder by some one running to set off the combus- 
tibles. A light moving rapidly along the deck was 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 113 

seen just before the explosion. Commodore Preble 
believed that the ketch was intercepted by some 
gunboats which were seen lurking near the rocks 
at sunset. His theory was that they suddenly 
boarded her without suspecting her to be a fire- 
ship, and that Somers, preferring death to surren- 
der and failure, put a match to the magazine. He 




KETCH 



based this belief upon the known determination of 
Somers and his officers neither to be taken nor to 
let the powder and shot fall into the hands of the 
enemy, and upon the disappearance of one of 
the enemy's largest gunboats. Several others were 
observed to be very much shattered the next day. 
Captain Bainbridge was afterwards permitted to 



114 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

view certain mutilated bodies which drifted on 
shore, but he could not identify them. Whatever 
happened, the name of Somers will always remain 
a watchword in the Navy and a symbol of the 
self-renunciation and love which ennoble humanity. 
He and his companions died in early manhood un- 
sullied, and left behind them imperishable names. 
Some light is shed on the tragedy by a story 
given in General Eaton's memoirs. He was in 
Egypt during the winter following Preble's cam- 
paign, organizing the land attack against Tripoli. 
An Arnaut Turk who had been in the service of 
the Dey and was friendly to the Tripolitan cause 
said to him : " Tripoli has lost many men in the 
different attacks of the Americans last summer ; 
the town was much damaged and the inhabitants 
under such a state of consternation that nobody 
slept in the city and that no business was done 
there." As Eaton continues, " He confirmed the 
account of the fire-ship, Infernal, being blown up by 
Captain Somers after having been boarded by two 
row galleys. Stating this fact, the fellow wept. 
He observed that the war had been unfortunate 
to the cruisers. They had been led to believe 
that the Americans were all merchantmen, and that 
they should have nothing to do but to go out and 
bring them in ; but they found them devils from 
whom nothing was to be gained in war." 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 115 

Thus ended the war, for there were no more 
attacks. Bad weather and the uncertain season 
drove the squadron off the coast. On the 6th of 
September, Preble sent all except the Constitution, 
Argus, and Vixen to Syracuse, remaining himself 
on the blockade to await the arrival of his succes- 
sor. On the 10th, the frigates President and Con- 
stellation made their appearance, and Commodore 
Barron took command. Two days later, while 
Preble was still on board, the Constitution chased 
and took two prizes laden with wheat for Tripoli. 
The city was said to be in a state bordering on 
starvation. The relief of Commodore Preble was 
not intended as a reflection upon him, although it 
did look like ingratitude to supersede him and to 
give his successor four additional frigates just as 
he had licked the Dey into shape for a reasonable 
peace. That he felt it seriously is shown by his 
journal, but he never made any complaint. The 
news traveled slowly, in those days ; and the relief 
ships had been commissioned in consequence of the 
loss of the Philadelphia months before the result 
of the blockade was known. Congress voted him 
the nation's thanks and a gold medal, emblematic 
of the attacks on the town, batteries, and naval 
force of Tripoli, and the Secretary of the Navy 
wrote him a letter expressing unqualified approba- 
tion of his work. 



116 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

The singular good luck of the Constitution fol- 
lowed her through the whole of this war. She 
suffered comparatively little injury and lost not 
one man in the five assaults upon the Tripolitan 
batteries. The only man wounded on her decks 
was a marine, whose arm was shattered during the 
first attack. 

The approach of winter decided Commodore 
Barron to follow out Preble's plan of keeping up 
a continuous blockade with two or three ships, and 
to hold the others at Syracuse until spring. The 
Constellation and the Congress, which had just 
arrived under Captain John Rodgers, were accord- 
ingly left on the station. On the 14th of Septem- 
ber, the Constitution proceeded to Malta, and 
there Preble left her with the heartfelt regret of 
everybody in the squadron. The officers even 
went so far as to address him a letter of regret, 
which all signed. He joined the John Adams, 
and, after winding up his affairs, sailed for home 
in December. 

Decatur, who had been promoted to captain in 
recognition of his gallant exploit on the Philadel- 
phia, was transferred to the command of the Con- 
stitution, but he kept her only about seven weeks. 
On November 6, he exchanged with Rodgers, who 
was his senior, to the Congress, a smaller ship. 
The Constitution was eighty men short, and she 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 117 

required some new sails, a cable, and a bowsprit. 
It was therefore thought advisable to send her to 
Lisbon to recruit and repair. She sailed on No- 
vember 27, and arrived in Lisbon on December 
28, having encountered head winds. Nearly six 
weeks were consumed in procuring the necessary 
outfit, and she then returned, stopping at Tangier 
to impress the Moors. We find her on the block- 
ade once more in the early part of the month of 
March, 1805, where she reappeared at intervals 
until the negotiations for peace began. On the 
24th of April, she captured a Tripolitan privateer 
having two Neapolitan prizes, and on May 22 she 
was made the flagship by Captain Rodgers, who 
had succeeded to the chief command. Commodore 
Barron was forced by serious illness to leave the 
squadron. 

Colonel Lear came on from Algiers in May, and 
a treaty was drawn up in the cabin of the Consti- 
tution by which the tribute to Tripoli ceased, 
peace was declared without indemnity, and the 
American captives were surrendered on the pay- 
ment of $60,000. The Spanish consul represented 
the Dey in the earlier negotiations, but the Danish 
consul, who had been so tireless in his efforts to 
aid the American captives, finally concluded them. 
The Dey was probably influenced towards peace 
with America by the successful land attack made 



118 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

by his brother and General Eaton against Derne. 
He himself was a usurper who had driven his bro- 
ther out some years before, and now no doubt he 
feared a turn of fortune's wheel. 

A figure appears from time to time in connection 
with the war that deserves notice. It was Sidi 
Mahomet Dghies, the Dey's minister, a man of 
great nobility. He has been described as a culti- 
vated man of the world. He did much to make 
the lot of Bainbridge and his men less hard, and 
he opposed the war without success. Another man 
who has not been mentioned is Nathaniel Haraden, 
the sailing-master of the Constitution. It was his 
duty to look after the sails and rigging when the 
ship went into action. He earned the nickname 
of " Jumping Billy," from his frequent use of the 
purchase by that name. He was a native of Massa- 
chusetts, but had been impressed and had served a 
long time in the British Navy. 

The treaty was signed on June 3, 1805, and 
salutes were exchanged between the Constitution 
and the batteries on shore. In the mean time the 
Bey of Tunis had been threatening trouble unless 
certain ships which had been captured while run- 
ning the blockade were forthwith surrendered. 
Commodore Rodgers therefore moved down with 
nearly the whole of his fleet and anchored off Tunis 
on August 1. After certain dilatory negotiations 



CONCLUSION OF THE WAR WITH TRIPOLI 119 

which lasted two weeks, and which gave Rodgers 
the impression that the Bey was seeking only to 
get rid of the squadron by vague promises, he 
wrote the following in a letter to the consul- 
general : — 

" He (the Bey) must do one of three things, by simple 
request, or else do all three by force. He must give the 




CORSAIR 



guarantee already required — or, he must give sufficient 
security for peace and send a minister to the United 
States — or, he must make such alterations in the treaty 
as you may require, and as may satisfy you that there is 
confidence to be placed in what he does. 

" I have only to repeat, that if he does not do all that 



120 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

is necessary and proper, at the risk of my conduct being 
disapproved by my country, he shall feel the vengeance 
of the squadron now in the bay." 

This startling departure from the timid and 
feeble foreign policy of the United States during 
its first ten years produced its effect, and a treaty 
was signed with Tunis ending tribute forever. 

The active operations in the Mediterranean ended 
with this incident, but for some years a few ships 
were kept on the station for observation of the 
Barbary States. Our merchant-ships were never 
afterwards molested. The squadron was gradually 
reduced, and Commodore Rodgers returned home 
in May, 1806, giving up the command of the Con- 
stitution to Captain Hugh G. Campbell, who kept 
her cruising from port to port another year. The 
detention which held the crew so long over their 
terms of enlistment and gave rise to an attempt at 
mutiny was caused by the failure of her relief, the 
Chesapeake, to put in an appearance. 



CHAPTER VII 

OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 

The years following the treaties with the Bar- 
bary States form a period of indifference towards 
the Navy, notwithstanding the growing trouble 
with England. The policy of the government was 
both weak and foolish. Materials which had been 
collected in 1799 and 1800 towards building six 
line-of-battle-ships had been frittered away on re- 
pairs and reconstruction of old ships. Besides this, 
the administration under Jefferson was soon bitten 
with the idea of a mosquito fleet of small gunboats 
for coast defense. The demand for such vessels at 
Tripoli and subsequently in the waters of the Gulf 
for use against the Spaniards had given rise to a 
theory of warfare which subsequent events proved 
altogether fallacious. The inland waters along the 
east coast seemed to offer exceptional facilities for 
sudden attack upon an enemy by numerous small 
ships carrying only a few guns each. It was thought 
that if enough of them could concentrate upon a 
blockading ship, she would easily be captured ; and 



122 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

that, if they found themselves in danger, they could 
retire to the shallow waters beyond the reach of 
an enemy's guns. Nothing could have been more 
wasteful or more destructive of the morale of the 
service. Mr. Jefferson ought to have known from 
the ineffectiveness of the Tripolitan gunboats 
against the Constitution that such craft were of no 
use whatever in case of a blockade. 

The periodic return of this mania for something 
cheap should be a warning to the country even 
now. Almost every Congress has passed through 
a stage of discussing small vessels for coast work. 
They may be very useful as auxiliaries to real 
fighting-ships, but if we have to choose between 
the two classes, it is far better to put ten millions 
of dollars into three battle-ships than four millions 
into fifty torpedo-boats. The painful steps and 
mistaken theories by which our nation has ac- 
quired experience should serve us in these days of 
rapid change. 

The purchase of Louisiana relieved the govern- 
ment of its uneasiness in the Spanish business, but 
the building of gunboats went on. In 1806 the 
President reported that fifty were ready for com- 
mission, and recommended more of them. About 
257 vessels of this description were eventually 
built, and they may be dismissed with the state- 
ment that in the war which followed a few years 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 123 

later they were permitted to rot well out of reach 
of British cruisers. Events were shaping themselves 
rapidly, and the time was fast approaching when 
the Constitution was in one battle to do more to 
give us a national pride, to teach foreign respect for 
American arms, and to turn our Congress towards 
correct theories of the country's defense, than the 
entire navy of gunboats could ever have done. 

The Chesapeake, then at the Washington Navy 
Yard under repairs, had been detailed for the 
Constitution's relief. Commodore James Barron 
was to go out in command of the station. There 
was great delay in getting her ready for sea, but 
finally she dropped down to Norfolk for the com- 
pletion of her armament. Before she left Washing- 
ton, however, the British minister complained that 
three deserters from the British ship Melampus 
had enlisted upon her. The matter was investi- 
gated, and they were found to be deserters, as 
claimed, but men who had been impressed from 
American ships and had taken the first opportunity 
of escaping to their own country. The Chesapeake 
sailed for the Mediterranean on June 22, 1807, 
and was accompanied to sea by the English frigate 
Leopard, of superior force. When some miles out 
the English captain sent on board an order from 
Vice-Admiral Berkeley directing him on meeting 
the Chesapeake " to search her for deserters." 



124 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Commodore Barron did not have his ship cleared 
for action, and he delayed a reply, but the English- 
man recalled his messenger and fired broadside 
after broadside into her, until the flag was hauled 
down. A number of men were wounded. An 
officer was then sent on board, the American crew 
were mustered on deck, and four men removed. 
This outrage will never be forgotten, although 
there were many people at the time who wished to 
pass it by without protest. It was, however, the 
concrete fact which ultimately had much influence 
in providing a majority in Congress towards fitting 
out all of our frigates for service. In the end the 
English government disavowed the act and returned 
the two survivors of these four men to the deck of 
the ship from which they had been taken. The 
resulting negotiations, which were conducted in 
better temper, saved the country from immediate 
war and gave us time for better preparation. 

The Chesapeake returned to Hampton Roads, and 
the Constitution was left to come home without a 
relief. She arrived in Boston in the fall of 1807, 
but was ordered to New York for the crew to be 
paid off. There she was dismantled for repairs 
and lay for nearly two years. We hear nothing of 
her during this period, but no doubt she was 
thoroughly overhauled for service on the home 
station. It is probable, also, that she received her 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 125 

heaviest battery during this time, for her sailing 
qualities fell off. In August, 1809, her old com- 
mander, John Rodgers, took her as his flagship in 
the northern squadron, but he kept her only a 
year. He transferred his flag to the President in 30 
the belief that she was a faster ship, and turned ( I* 

over the Constitution to Isaac Hull, who had been ^ 

her first lieutenant in the race with the English ^ if 

frigate. About this time the officers had a tend- 
ency to overload their ships with guns, and there 
can be no doubt that the English opinion of their 
armament was in part correct. It was too heavy. 
When Hull took command of the Constitution she I^J^U 
carried on her gun-deck thirty long 24-pounders, V '' ^ 
on her quarter-deck sixteen 32-pounder carronades, 
and on her forecastle two long bow chasers and six ^' 

32-pounder carronades. She was a very wet ship 
when going on the wind, and rode heavily at her 
anchors. 

The year 1810 was spent cruising on the home 
station. She visited Hampton Roads and various 
ports. We find her during the winter of 1810-11 
at New London in company with the President 
and Cono'ress. After a short cruise on the east 
coast and a visit to Boston in the spring she went 
to Annapolis for the purpose of conveying across 
the Atlantic the new minister to France, and the 
money to pay the interest on the Dutch debt. Mr. 



126 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Joel Barlow kept her waiting in Annapolis Eoads 
from May until August, when he arrived on board 
with his wife and her sister Miss Baldwin. They 
sailed on August 1, and had a very pleasant voy- 
age of five weeks to Cherbourg. This port was 
blockaded by a strong British squadron, and there 
seemed to be some disposition to delay the Consti- 
tution. A lieutenant was sent on board from the 
British flagship with a request that the commodore 
would like to see Captain Hull on board. When 
the invitation was politely declined, the messenger 
made a second request that he delay his entry into 
Cherbourg until a certain hour the next day. Hull 
also refused to consider this. He explained that 
the American minister to France was on board and 
that he felt it his duty to get into port as soon as 
the weather permitted. 

The times were critical for an American frigate 
in the English channel. British ships were every- 
where, and the whole French coast was under 
blockade. The growing irritation which was shortly 
to break out into war did not promote friendliness 
between the sailors of the two nations. A subse- 
quent visit to Portsmouth was like putting one's 
head in the lion's mouth ; but Hull came out of it 
well, although at one time an open rupture seemed 
to hang on the toss of a coin. 

The ship sailed from Cherbourg September 12, 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 127 

and proceeded to the Texel, where the specie was 
landed. She then returned for Mr. Russell, who 
was to be carried across the channel to his new 
post at London. While entering Cherbourg some 
of the British blockading ships beat up the harbor 
with her and thereby drew the fire of the French 
batteries. For some reason Captain li^\l did not 
display the private signals agreed upon, and the 
Frenchmen doubtless taking him for an English- 
man fired four shots at the Constitution. As 
stated in the log for October 13, " At ^ past 3 four 
shot were fired from the French batteries, 2 of 
which struck the ship, 1 passing through the 
Starb*^ waist nettings, taking off the stern of the 
2d cutter and through the lee clew of the main 
sail. The other struck in the bends just aft the 
fore chains." 

On November 11, she sailed for Portsmouth 
with Mr. Hussell and a number of passengers, all 
of whom were landed the next day. Captain Hull 
accompanied them to London for a short visit, and 
was therefore absent during the following curious 
exchange of men between the Constitution and the 
British fleet. 

Very late on the evening of November 13, a boat 
came alongside from the English frigate Havan- 
nah, and an officer informed Lieutenant Charles 
Morris, in temporary command, that a deserter 



128 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

from the Constitution had just swum off to his 
ship. Mr. Morris thanked him and said that the 
man would be sent for in the morning ; but when 
morning came the captain of the Havannah had 
either reconsidered the case or had received in- 
struction from the flagship. He refused to give 
the man up without an order from the admiral, Sir 
Roger Curtis. The lieutenant then waited on the 
admiral and made a formal demand for the desert- 
er's surrender. His demand was met by the ques- 
tion whether the Americans would surrender British 
deserters to their ships, or not. He replied that 
Captain Hull would probably accede to any agree- 
ment of mutual advantage. The admiral then in- 
formed him that the man had claimed protection 
as a British subject, and that he must therefore 
be retained. A few nights later Mr. Morris was 
awakened " by the discharge of a sentry's musket 
and the cries of a man in the water near the ship." 
When taken on board he proved to be a deserter 
from the Havannah, but declared himself an Amer- 
ican. As Mr. Morris says in his biography, " This 
was sufficient. A boat was immediately sent to 
the Havannah to reciprocate the politeness of the 
preceding evening, and the next morning we had 
the satisfaction of assigning the same reason and 
the same testimony for refusing a demand for his 
restitution from the captain and admiral." The 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 129 

subject was much discussed on shore, and there 
were threats of using force. Two English frigates 
moved down quite near the Constitution, so that 
she had great difficulty in changing her anchor- 
age without fouling them. Captain Hull, who had 
come on board in the mean time, fully sustained Mr. 
Morris in his course, and directed him upon the 
turn of the tide to drop down to St. Helen's Koads ; 
but the two English frigates again got up their 
anchors and moved to positions near the Constitu- 
tion. That the Americans had learned a lesson 
from the Chesapeake affair is very well shown by 
the brief entries in the log of what took place. 
The following are given verbatim : — 

Nov. 13, 1811. — At Sunset mustered the crew at 
Quarters, ^ past 8 P. M. an officer came alongside from 
the Admiral and said they had taken up a Man which 
had swam from the Constitution. It proved to be 
Thomas Holland, a Seaman. Fresh breeze and cloudy 
with rain during the night. 

Nov. 17. At Sunset mustered the Crew at Quarters. 
At 8 P. M., John Burnes Swam on board from an Eng- 
lish Ship. Light breezes and clear. 

Nov. 19. At 9 A. M. Sent up Top. G. masts and 
unmoored Ship. At Meridian, hove up the Starboard 
Anchor and stood down to St. Hellens Roads under the 
Top Sails. Gunners employed overhauling the Guns 
and sending up Grape and Round Shott. 



130 THE FEIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Nov. 20. Anchored in St. Hellens Roads. 

Nov. 21. At I past 3 Hove Short on the Larboard 
Cable, beat to Quarters and cleared away the Guns, got 
everything ready for Action. J before 4 Hove up the 
Anchor, Made Sail and stood out into the Channell. At 
4 light breezes and clear. From 4 to 6 Employed 
Stowing Anchor & preparing the ship for action. 

Although their spelling and capitals were not 
always reliable, we can have entire faith in their 
readiness to maintain the rights of the flag. They 
stood out of the harbor calmly, without fear, and 
therefore without molestation from the British 
frigate which accompanied them to sea. Two days 
later they entered Cherbourg, and Mr. Morris was 
sent up to Paris for dispatches from Mr. Barlow to 
the home government. He was detained six weeks, 
and we find a very interesting glimpse of Napoleon 
and official Paris during this time in his autobio- 
graphy. He met Lafayette, Kosciusko, and many 
survivors of the French Revolution. Early in 
January he was back on board ship, and they 
sailed for home on the 10th. 

During their stay in the Channel and North Sea, 
a number of deaths occurred on board ship. They 
are entered in the log almost always in the same 
stereotyped phrase, followed by a note regarding 
the weather; as, "At 2 A. M., John Fullington 
departed this life. Wind E. N. E." Another un- 




CHAKLES MOKRIS 



m^ 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 131 

canny entry occurs occasionally during the winter, 
" Carpenters employed making Coffins." The 
weather must have been very boisterous, for the 
crew was kept busy securing the ship against wind 
and sea. The sails, yards, and cables gave no end 
of trouble. We may be sure that Captain Hull 
did not spare his men at this time. They anchored 
off Old Point Comfort after a very stormy passage 
of forty days, and late in March took the ship up 
to the Navy Yard at Washington for a thorough 
overhauling. All ammunition and guns had to be 
removed to get her over the bar in the Potomac 
River. Her sailing qualities had fallen off so 
much dp ring this cruise that Captain Hull re- 
quested the Navy Department to have her hove out 
for examination and repair of the copper. There 
were no dry docks at this time, and the only 
method of obtaining access to the bottom of a ship 
was by careening her in shallow water. For this 
purpose she was usually made as light as possible. 
The stores and ballast were accordingly discharged 
from the Constitution, and the repairs to the copper 
bottom were completed in about five weeks. Her 
old sailing-master, " Jumping Billy " Haraden, 
was master of the Yard ; fortunately, as subsequent 
events proved. He took entire charge of the work 
on her and exercised special care in restowing her 
hold to give her the proper sailing trim. Only 




132 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

about two thirds of the ballast was put back. The 
result was magical, and there is no doubt that Mr. 
Haraden contributed materially to her famous 
escape from an English squadron two months later. 
War was declared against England on June 18, 
1812, and again the entry in the Constitution's log 
exhibits a characteristic spirit. It is : — 

June 20. At 5 P. M. the Commanding Officer, 
Lieutenant Read, had the crew turned up, and read to 
them the declaration of war between the United States 
and the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, 
that had passed the Senate and authorizing the Presi- 
dent James Madison to employ the Armies and Navy of 
the United States against the above written powers. 
The Crew manifested their Zeal in Support of tlie Honor 
of the United States Flagg by requesting of leave to 
Cheer on the occasion (granted them). Crew returned 
to their duty, light airs from the Southward and East- 
ward. 

It was during this war that the Constitution 
found her most eventful career and earned her 
chief laurels. It may be well therefore to say a 
word about the preparation of the country for war 
and the odds against which our few frigates had to 
contend. The war sprang principally from inability 
to maintain our neutrality between France and 
England, and it has been called the second war of 
independence, — independence on the high seas. 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 133 

As the Orders in Council were revoked five days 
after the declaration of war, we really fought three 
years for sailors' rights. For England to impress 
seamen in her own cities and bear them away from 
their families for service in the navy was cruel 
enough ; but for her to take men out of our ships, 
both public and private, whenever an intemperate 
captain saw fit, was simply unbearable. Yet it 
lasted twenty years and more, during the period of 
our weakness. In fairness it may be said that in- 
ternational rights, especially those of neutrals, were 
very poorly defined one hundred years ago, and 
we knew as little as the rest of the world. Too 
great a predominance on the sea is fatal to gen- 
erosity and good temper in dealing with other 
nations, and England was paying this penalty for 
her navy. Time has made clear that she stood for 
civilization and humanity during the Napoleonic 
wars. She saved Europe from a despotism that 
might ultimately have turned the entire Continent 
into another China. In this light, her naval pre- 
dominance was the beacon selected by a divine 
Providence for the education of the human race. 
We may well deal charitably therefore with the 
rashness and despotic exercise of power which pro- 
voked war and also planted the seeds of defeat at 
our hands. 

The astonishing part of the whole matter was 



134 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

our absolute unpreparedness. We had only twenty- 
ships for warfare on the open sea, and of these 
three were far gone in decay. So hopeless seemed 
the strength of the navy that the cabinet vdted to 
lay up all the ships to prevent their capture by the 
English, and President Madison was only dissuaded 
with difficulty by Captains Bainbridge and Stewart, 
who hapjDened to be in Washington, and who after- 
wards commanded the Constitution in successful 
actions. The war and the building up of a navy 
had been made so much a party question that Con- 
gress could not be prevailed upon to do, anything 
until we were actually forced into hostilities, and 
then it was too late. But the country was very 
much divided even after war was declared. New 
England proved the most strenuous opponent, as 
she was the principal sufferer by reason of her large 
merchant marine shut up in port. Some of her 
citizens carried their opposition so far as to discuss 
secession. A victory over the English was needed 
to satisfy public opinion by giving all alike a cause 
for rejoicing. The hand of Providence had selected 
the Constitution for this service. Three times she 
went out from Boston to victory, and three times 
the New England people were fired with immense 
enthusiasm over the success of the ship built by 
their own hands. Nothing more fortunate has 
occurred in our history. 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 135 

The position of England at the time was one of 
great strength on the sea. France, her only an- 
tagonist, had never recovered from Trafalgar ; so 
that the duty of the English fleet was mainly con- 
fined to the blockade of French ports. For this 
purpose she had between six and seven hundred 
armed vessels, fifty of which were enough to seal 
up our harbors and destroy our little navy. 
Many of these were line-of-battle-ships, of which 
we had none, and against any one of which our 
few frigates could not hope to stand. Added to 
this tremendous preponderance was the confidence 
born of many years of successful warfare. The 
English sailors had won on every sea, and we 
were, comparatively speaking, untried. They had 
no thought of defeat, and we did not dream of 
victory. As an offset to this very great superiority 
many of the British ships were under-manned. 
The additional strain put upon England by the 
blockade of the American coast hampered the sup- 
ply of Wellington's army and caused him to com- 
plain bitterly of a lack of cooperation between the 
Army and Navy. Lord Melville writes in 1813 : 
" The drain of seamen which the American lake 
service has required has already greatly distressed 
us, and that the supply of seamen is so inadequate 
to the current demands of the service, as your 
lordship well knows, the ships in commission are 



136 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

too frequently short of complement ; but not less 
tlian six sail of the line and sixteen frigates with 
a great number of sloops and smaller vessels are 
at this moment ready to receive men and are 
lying useless because men cannot be supplied to 
them." 

Attention has been called to the construction 
of our frigates and their great superiority over 
anything of the class afloat, but our readers can 
have no idea of the unreasoning controversy which 
sprang from our victories. It is worth while going 
into a further comparison between the Constitution 
and the two frigates she captured. The Secretary 
of War in his report for 1798 described our 36 
and 44-gun frigates as " separately superior to any 
single European frigates of the usual dimensions." 
That is the plain truth of the matter, yet this was 
designated by the historian of the British Navy as 
a method " evidently to operate as a cheat or de- 
lusion upon the rest of the world." His grounds 
for making this statement were that our ships car- 
ried more guns and of greater calibre than their 
rating, and that they were ^s heavily built as 
British line-of-battle-ships. A comparison of the 
English frigate Java with the Constitution will 
serve to bring out the merits of the case and to 
show the inconsistencies of the rating on both 
sides. The Java was captured from the French 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 137 

under the name of " La Renommee," and was de- 
scribed as a 40-gun ship. She actually carried 46 
guns. The English rechristened her and changed 
the rating to 38 guns, although they increased the 
armament to 49 guns, just eleven more than the 
rate called for. She fired a broadside of 576 
pounds. 

The Constitution, rated as a 44-gun frigate, 
actually carried 52 guns, firing a nominal broad- 
side of 704 pounds in her engagement with the 
Java. The smallest British line - of - battle - ship, 
the 74, carried 83 guns, with a broadside of 1032 
pounds. 

There was no intention to deceive in any of these 
cases. The nomenclature had grown up without 
much thought of its inconsistency. Little attention 
was paid to the number of carronades placed on 
the forecastle and quarter-deck ; very much as we 
might now reckon the heavy guns of the Iowa and 
call her a 12-gun battle-ship, whereas her battery 
consists really of 46 guns of sizes from 12" down 
to ^" calibre. The complement of men for the 
Constitution was 400, as previously stated ; that 
for the Java was about 277. In the battle between 
them they carried 475 and 426 respectively. A 
line-of -battle-ship required 590 men in her crew. 
The larger decks of the Constitution did not give 
her so much more room for training the guns on 



138 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

the main deck as would at first appear. These 
guns were heavier than those of the British frig- 
ate and there was one more on each broadside, so 
that the twenty feet additional length did not go 
very far. The advantage in the weight of guns 
and thickness of sides was, however, very decided, 
especially at long range. The Java, for instance, 
fired 18-pound shot at the Constitution, whose 
sides were from 17 to 20 inches thick, while the 
latter fired 24-pound shot at the former, whose 
sides were from 11 J to 15 inches thick. On the 
spar-deck they both carried 32-pound carronades, 
and were in that respect very nearly equal; but 
the range of the carronades was comparatively 
short, and ships had to close in to use them. With 
her superiority in long guns, the Constitution had 
only to choose her distance with judgment, and the 
result of the fight was certain. 

For a long time it was said that our crews were 
made up of Englishmen enticed into the service. 
There is no doubt that the naval vessels of all 
countries carried many foreigners in their comple- 
ments, and the United States was probably no 
exception to the rule ; but the number of foreign- 
ers varied with the difficulty of getting seamen at 
home. The British were very hard pressed for 
men, and had to resort to impressment. Their 
ships rarely had the full numbers, and the comple- 



OUTBREAK OF THE WAR OF 1812 139 

ments were still further reduced by throwing into 
prison imj)ressed American sailors who refused to 
fight against their country. During the war with 
Tripoli the accusation against us would probably 
have been true, except as to the word " enticing ; " 
for our own sailors were engaged in a very profit- 
able commerce. But the War of 1812 found many 
of our merchant-ships withdrawn from service, and 
great numbers of American sailors idle. Many 
embarked as privateers in the hope of rich booty 
from the enemy's commerce. It is probable, how- 
ever, that at no period of our history have we had 
a greater percentage of American-born sailors in 
the Navy. The fact that impressment had never 
gained a foothold in this country was doubtless an 
element in our favor; for men who go willingly 
may be trusted to do far better work than those 
who are driven. The American sailors quickly 
learned gunnery, and responded to training far 
better than the English. They had to respond to 
training. It was their only hope against such 
overwhelming odds. Added to this, our officers 
made a careful and intelligent study of tactics, 
while the English still labored under the traditions 
of that king who said, "Lay me aboard of yon 
Frenchman. I wish to joust with him." Nelson 
had put this in different words, ''Never mind 
manoeuvres, always go at them." But his advice 



140 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

proved misleading against a wary enemy who could 
shoot. Sir Howard Douglass has well stated the 
case in his treatise on Gunnery. " When the fleet 
of Europe opposed to us in the late war [1793- 
1815] had been swept from the face of the ocean 
by the gallant achievements of the British marine, 
a period of undisputed dominion ensued, during 
which our seamen were not, in general, sufficiently 
practiced in the exercise of those weapons by which 
that dominion had been gained, but, in the pride of 
conquest, were in many instances to lose much 
of that proficiency in warlike practice which had 
been acquired in a long series of arduous service." 
" The danger of resting satisfied with superiority 
over a system so defective as that of our former 
opponents has been made sufficiently evident. We 
became too confident by being feebly opposed; 
then slack in warlike exercise, by not being op- 
posed at all ; and lastly, in many cases, inexpert 
for want even of drill practice ; and herein con- 
sisted the great disadvantage under which, without 
suspecting it, we entered in 1812, with too great 
confidence, into a war with a marine much more 
expert than that of any of our European enemies." 




ISAAC HULL 



CHAPTER VIII 

ESCAPE OF THE CONSTITUTION FROM A BRITISn 

SQUADRON 

The War of 1812 could not be fouglit on any- 
definite strategic plan. We had no line-o£-battle- 
ships, and the disparity in resources and ships on 
the two sides forbade fleet actions. Our only hope 
lay in frequenting the trade routes of the enemy to 
do as much harm as possible to his commerce, and 
incidentally to fight frigates or sloops acting singly. 
Commodore Rodgers had a fleet during the war, 
but he accomplished very little with it. Without 
even one heavy fighting-ship, he could do nothing 
towards raising the blockade, and he remained per- 
force helpless. His ships were ultimately shut up 
in ports or scattered. The spirit which animated 
the officers on both sides was more that of the 
knights-errant. They seemed to enjoy combat, and 
challenges were often exchanged between single 
ships. Captain Broke sent a challenge in to Bos- 
ton that he would meet Captain Lawrence in any 
latitude and longitude the latter would select for a 



142 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

combat between the Shannon and the Chesapeake. 
Captain Bainbridge asked permission of the Navy 
Department to take the Constellation, a 36-gun 
frigate, out to fight any 38-gun frigate selected by 
the British Admiral. These duels seemed almost 
like submitting the cause to the prowess of single 
champions, instead of making it the test of the 
national resources and of the organization of a 
whole people for war. We cannot fail to admire, 
however, the high sense of honor of these officers 
and their sterling fidelity to the flags of their 
countries. 

The Constitution left Washington on June 21, 
three days after the declaration of war, with orders 
to proceed to New York and join the squadron of 
Commodore Rodgers. Captain Hull commanded 
her, and Charles Morris was again her first lieuten- 
ant. Her complement was greatly deficient, some 
of her officers had not yet joined, only a part of 
the guns were mounted, and she was generally im- 
perfect as to equipment. On the 25th of June she 
was at the mouth of the Potomac, and on the 28th 
at anchor off Annapolis for greater convenience to 
Baltimore, where men and stores could be obtained. 
Here she was put in order as rapidly as possible, 
the men were stationed, and new draughts came 
down from Baltimore to join her. On the 5th of 
July she got up anchor and stood down Chesa- 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 143 

peake Bay, still receiving men and stores, until she 
passed out between the Capes on July 12. The 
crew were constantly drilled at the sails and the 
guns. The marvelous power of organization pos- 
sessed by Captain Hull and Mr. Morris is well 
demonstrated by the ship's escape from a British 
squadron five days after putting to sea. This chase 
has become memorable in the Navy through the 
use of the kedge anchor in the shallow water off 
the New Jersey coast. 

The officers attached to her at this time as 
nearly as may be ascertained were : — 

Captain, Isaac Hull. 

Lieutenants, Charles Morris, Alexander S. Wads- 
worth, George C. Read, Beekman V. Hoffman and John 
T. Shubrick. 

Sailing-master, John C. Alwyn, 

Midshipmen, Charles W. Morgan, Frederick Baury, 
Henry Gilliam, William D. Salter, William L. Gordon, 
William V. Taylor, John Tayloe, Ambrose D. Field, 
Joseph Cross, John A. Belcher, Alexander Eskridge, 
James Greenlaw, Allen Griffin, Lewis German, James 
W. Dulany and Thomas A. Beatty. 

Surgeon, Amos A. Evans. 

Surgeon^s Mates, Donaldson Yeates and John D. 
Armstrong. 

Purser, Thomas J. Chew. 

Lieutenants of Marines, William S. Bush and John 
Contee. 



144 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

They were probably all on board during the 
action with the Guerriere. 

While Hull was sailing down the Chesapeake 
expecting to join Commodore Rodgers outside of 
New York, the latter's squadron was in the Gulf 
Stream looking for the Jamaica fleet. Rodgers 
had hurried to sea within an hour after he received 
word of the declaration of war, taking five ships 
with him. Two days out he sighted a British 
frigate to the northeast, and the whole squadron 
gave chase. The flagship, President, got near 
enough to throw a few shot into her, but was 
then delayed by the bursting of a gun and the 
chase got away. She proved to be the Belvidera, 
commanded by Captain Byron, who gained much 
credit for his seamanship in this affair. Without 
knowing it he had also saved the Jamaica fleet by 
delaying Commodore Rodgers in the effort to cap- 
ture his small frigate. The chase was given up at 
sunset and the squadron turned in pursuit of the 
British merchant-ships, which they followed across 
the Atlantic, often approaching almost within sight 
of them. The Belvidera put into Halifax with the 
news that an American squadron was outside of 
New York, and a British squadron under Captain 
Broke was promptly sent out to look for them. 
Thus, Captain Hull found five British ships where 
he expected to meet Commodore Rodgers. 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 145 

After clearing the Capes, the Constitution had 
made very slow progress up the coast against light 
contrary winds. At two o'clock on the afternoon 
of July 17, four sails were sighted from the mast- 
head to the northward heading towards the New 
Jersey coast. The wind, what there was of it, 
came from the northeast and the strangers had the 
weather gauge. Captain Hull, supposing them to 
be the American squadron, at first headed his ship 
around to join them. Two hours later, a fifth sail 
was sighted to the northeast coming down before 
the light wind, which soon died out entirely and 
left all the ships becalmed outside of range of one 
another. At six o'clock a shift of wind enabled 
Hull to head towards the last comer. This ship 
was the frigate Guerriere, commanded by Captain 
James R. Dacres, looking for the British squadron 
from which he had recently been separated. He 
had previously met them near Nantucket, while on 
his way to Halifax for repairs, water and provi- 
sions, and had been ordered to remain. This meet- 
ing was a fateful one, as the timbers of his ship 
were said to be decayed and the rigging in need of 
refitting. The delay of one month on the station 
threw her, on the continuance of her voyage north, 
directly in the way of the Constitution. By a curi- 
ous coincidence, her consorts had lost sight of her 
the night before the Constitution appeared, and 



146 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

when she hove in sight again they took her for a 
second American frigate, while Dacres suspected 
them to be the American squadron. Captain Hull 
was also uncertain about her identity, and had 
headed around to investigate her, as above stated. 
Thus, there were three parties to this meet- 
ing working at cross purposes. The other four 
ships were the 64-gun ship Africa, Captain Bast- 
ard, the 38-gun frigates Shannon and Belvidera, 
commanded respectively by captains Broke and 
Byron, and the 82-gun frigate ^olus, Captain 
Townsend. 

At half -past seven Hull cleared ship for action 
as a precaution, and at haK-past ten he displayed 
the private signals and kept them up three quarters 
of an hour without reply. This led him to head 
away cautiously until daybreak. At four o'clock 
in the morning the Constitution and the Guer- 
riere were within range of each other, and Cap- 
tain Dacres in his turn made signal, one rocket 
and two guns. As none of the ships answered the 
signal, he made haste to head away before the 
wind to escape from what he conceived to be 
Rodgers' squadron. Hull no longer doubted the 
nationality of the ships in whose midst he found 
himself when day broke, and to make matters 
as bad as possible, there was little or no wind. 
They had drifted with flapping sails the better 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 147 

part of the night. At daylight, the British ran up 
their colors and gave chase. They had all the 
breeze at first, and gained. Two more vessels, a 
brig and a schooner, hove in sight astern at four 








lalifax 
<>^ constitution a 
escape from\ guerriere 
tenedos a junon 
^'escape from 
'british fleet 



c^ 



Lisbon 6 

CONSTITUTION J '■"■> 
OYANE 4 LEVANTV? 
MADEUM 18.'° 




ESCAPE FROM0r **« 
BRITISH FLEET -,^1';^'^^ 




^laranhao 

C.StRoque 

^CONSTITUTION 
A 
JAVA 



liOCATION OF BATTLES BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND 
BRITISH FRIGATES, AND ESCAPES FROM PURSUING FLEETS 



o'clock. An hour later some of the frigates began 
firing, but their shots passed over the Constitution 
without striking. 

Commodore Morris, who has left us an admirable 



148 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

account of this chase, says that the chances of 
escape were considered hopeless at this time. The 
Americans returned the fire, and the crew held to 
their work without flinching. Two 24-pound guns 
had been moved to the stern and mounted for 
firing directly aft by cutting away the taffrail, and 
two guns were run out of the cabin windows. The 
latter proved of no service, on account of the over- 
hang of the stern. About 2300 gallons of fresh 
water were pumped out of the ship, and the sails 
were all wet down to close the texture of the can- 
vas. At eight o'clock in the morning one of the 
frigates (Shannon) furled sails and was taken in 
tow by all the boats of the squadron. This drew 
her up steadily, and, as Mr. Morris again says, 
" seemed to decide our fate." But it was not to 
be. A sudden puff of wind gave the Constitution 
a few minutes' respite. While the Shannon was 
approaching a second time, Mr. Morris recalled the 
use of a kedge anchor on the President in going 
out of harbor, and suggested to Captain Hull that 
it be tried. They sounded and found a depth 
of twenty-five fathoms. Accordingly, the launch 
and a cutter were lowered and sent ahead with a 
kedge to which was secured a long line of hawsers 
and large ropes, — all that could be found in the 
ship : nearly a mile in length when fastened to- 
gether. By dropping the kedge and hauling on 




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a 



o 

I— I 
H 

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H 

o 

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a 

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ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 149 

the ropes the men gradually drew the ship ahead 
to the anchor, which was quickly taken up and 
carried out once more. Whenever the wind failed 
this process was repeated, until they finally got 
out of gunshot range from the British ships. The 
Guerriere was nearly abeam at one time in the 
forenoon and fired several broadsides, but the shot 
fell short. 

The Belvidera was the first to observe the cause 
of the mysterious drawing ahead of the Constitu- 
tion, and Captain Byron was quick to imitate. He 
even devised a superior method of hedging by 
making an anchor fast to each end of a rope 
passed through the two hawse holes. By this 
arrangement, one anchor was carried ahead while 
the men were hauling on the other, and the ship 
could be kept moving all the time. Fortunately, 
the lead was too great. The Constitution's crew 
were not allowed to relax their efforts during the 
whole day and night. Not an officer or man slept 
in his bunk. The relief watch lay down at their 
quarters on deck, and the guns were kept ready for 
action. The morning of the 19th found one frigate 
just out of range on the bow, two frigates on the 
beam, and one on the quarter, all to leeward, with 
the wind light but steady from the south. There 
were several other ships on the lee quarter, but 
some distance off. At daylight, the ship on the lee 



150 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

bow tacked with every chance of getting within 
gunshot, but Captain Hull, who realized that he 
could not afford to have his ship crippled, decided 
to tack and take the risk of passing close to the 
smaller ship, the ^olus, on the port quarter. This 
he did, heading to the eastward and passing within 
range of the ^olus, which for some unexplained 
reason did not fire a shot. During the forenoon 
the frigate Shannon, which had tacked and come 
in astern of the Constitution, gained on her. Up 
to this point in the chase Mr. Morris had expressed 
a lack of confidence in his ship's sailing qualities. 
He says that for many years she had been " a very 
dull sailer," but now as the wind freshened she 
again drew ahead, and by two in the afternoon 
reached the unexpected speed of twelve and a half 
knots an hour. 

The intense anxiety of the past thirty-six hours 
was now allayed and cheerfulness once more 
reigned, but still the crew was kept on the alert. 
During the day, all the boats were hoisted in while 
the ship was going through the water at consider- 
able speed. It was reported, on the other hand, 
that the British cut adrift many of their boats to 
keep up with the chase; and that they subse- 
quently spent several days picking them up. An 
incident recorded in the log of the Constitution 
during the forenoon exhibits a readiness to meet 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 151 

emergencies which always characterized Hull. An 
American merchantman was sighted to windward? 
and the nearest English ship hoisted American 
colors as a decoy. Hull immediately sent up Brit- 
ish colors. At six o'clock in the afternoon, a rain 
squall was seen approaching, and again his readi- 
ness is shown in the advantage which he obtained 
from it. All hands were sent to their stations and 
sail was shortened the instant the wind struck 
them. The pursuers, now some distance to lee- 
ward, observed the apparent confusion on the Con- 
stitution before the rain hid her from view, and 
made haste to get ready for the approaching blow 
by shortening sail and scattering. In the mean 
time Hull had quickly made sail again, and when 
the weather cleared had added another mile to his 
advantage. 

Again during the night of the 19th, the officers 
and men remained on deck, but at daylight of the 
20th all danger was considered at an end, and the 
crew took their first good rest in over sixty hours. 
The enemy's squadron were hull down to leeward. 
The last frigate to give up the chase was the Bel- 
videra, as the other ships drew away towards the 
northeast. Mr. Brighton says in a life of Ad- 
miral Broke : " The vexation of the whole British 
squadron may be inferred from the following letter 
received by Broke from the gallant Byron, as well as 



152 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

King's account of the sharp recriminations among 
the sailors. The commanders of the little squadron 
exchanged their explanations in the Shannon's 
cabin." Here follows Captain Byron's letter. 

Belvideka, July 20tli, 1812. 
Dear Bkoke?, 

Nothing can exceed my mortification from the ex- 
traordinary escape of the American frigate, and I am 
likewise much concerned it should fall so heavily on 
Dacres. We were at quarters all night. The Guerriere 
and the American frigate were seen from us most of the 
night, and, firing near together, the impression upon 
my mind was they were both American frigates. We 
saw often lights on board both of them during the night, 
and I thought they were making signals to each other. 
I expected to be in action very early in the morning, 
and'did not make signals, being apprehensive they might 
induce the enemy to make sail from us. I really did 
not think, from the squadron's position in the evening, 
the Guerriere would take the Belvidera and ^olus to 
be American frigates. About seven bells in the middle 
watch, as it must have been (as the night signal appears 
to have been made by Guerriere at 3.15), it was reported 
to me on the quarterdeck ; but, from the haziness of the 
morning, I was not satisfactorily convinced it was the 
real night signal. I rather thought it was the signal to 
distinguish British ships from the enemy when going 
into or in action, and I had mine hanging at the gaff, 
ready for showing, all night. The American came 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 153 

down within a mile of my bow, and hauled close away 
upon the starboard tack. My anxiety was not to frighten 
him away by signals. I am now very sorry I did not 
answer the Guerriere's signal, but it was so near day- 
light I thought a day signal might nearly be seen as 
well. Whatever I did was from the most anxious in- 
tention to secure the enemy ; and I have to regret that, 
from a succession of unfortunate circumstances, he 
should have escaped. I considered the rockets and 
guns of the Guerriere to announce an enemy in view ; 
but whether one or more ships the daylight immediately 
coming on would inform us. 

Dear Broke, Yours most sincerely, 

R. Byron. 

It would seem as if fate were making sport of 
these ships. Had the Guerriere not joined the 
British squadron, or had the Constitution not 
escaped from it, our first frigate victory might 
have been long enough postponed to lead to dis- 
couragement and sharper divisions within the na- 
tion. One of the vessels sighted during the chase 
was the U. S. brig Nautilus. She was captured 
by the British squadron only a few hours out of 
New York, and her crew was transferred to the 
Africa. Her commander, Lieutenant William M. 
Crane, was kept a prisoner on his own ship until 
she reached Halifax. The other sail sighted was a 
merchant-schooner held as prize by the British. 



154 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

As Captain Hull could not hope to run the 
blockade at New York, he headed for Boston, and 
within two hours after his escape was in chase of 
a sail which had been seen to the northward. She 
proved to be the American brig Sally, bound for 
Philadelphia, but when notified of the war she 
immediately headed for Charleston, S. C. It was 
a relief to many people when the Constitution an- 
chored in President Roads, just outside of Boston 
Harbor, as she had been at sea twenty-two days, 
and the opposition press had represented her as 
having been sent to sea without any powder. She 
and her officers acquried great reputations by this 
chase and escape, and no doubt her crew gained 
confidence in their ability to get away from a 
superior force if necessary. The following notice, 
which was inserted in the Exchange Coffee-House 
books by Captain Hull, forms a very fitting termin- 
ation of this episode : — 

" Captain Hull, finding his friends in Boston are cor- 
rectly informed of his situation when chased by the 
British squadron off New York, and that they are good 
enough to give him more credit by escaping them than 
he ought to claim, takes this opportunity of requesting 
them to make a transfer of a great part of their good 
wishes to Lt. Morris, and the other brave officers, and 
the crew under his command, for their very great exer- 
tions and prompt attention to orders while the enemy 



ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON 155 

were in chase. Captain Hull has great pleasure in say- 
ing, that notwithstanding the length of the chase, and 
the officers and crew being deprived of sleep, and allowed 
but little refreshment during the time, not a murmur 
was heard to escape them." 

Captain Hull reported his arrival at Boston to 
the Navy Department and to the authorities at 
New York, where he thought Commodore Rodgers 
might have left orders, but he waited only long 
enough to hear from New York that no letters had 
been left for him. He put to sea on August 2, 
and the next day orders from Washington arrived 
directing him to wait in Boston for further instruc- 
tions. He was to have been succeeded by Captain 
Bainbridge, his senior, exchanging into one of the 
smaller frigates. Mr. Morris was particularly 
happy in writing that "the decision of the Cap- 
tain was fortunate," although Hull might have 
found himself in an awkward position for sailing 
without orders had his ship been captured. He 
was lucky enough to bring back a sufficient excuse. 
The track of British vessels was well known, as 
they customarily put into Halifax and the Ber- 
mudas for supplies. The triangle formed by join- 
ing these two ports with New York seemed likely 
to contain a number of them, and Captain Hull 
wished to explore this region before the British 
could shut him in by the blockade. 



CHAPTER IX 

DESTEUCTION OF THE FRIGATE GUERRIERE 

The Constitution stood to the eastward, skirting 
the coast of Nova Scotia, and then passed leisurely 
across the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
to a point near Cape Race, which is supposed to 
have been sighted on August 15. During this 
voyage two British merchant-ships were captured 
and destroyed. The crew was continually exer- 
cised at the guns, with the most careful attention 
to every detail. It must be remembered that they 
had been on board only six or eight weeks, and 
were in the enemy's sea. Off Cape Race, five 
sails were sighted at daylight of the 15th, and a 
chase developed them into a fleet of four vessels 
apparently under convoy of a ship of war. As 
the Constitution overhauled them very rapidly the 
ship cast off a brig which she had in tow and made 
sail to windward, leaving the brig in flames. The 
other vessels were directed to scatter. The first of 
them overtaken proved to be a British ship on her 
way home as prize to an American privateer. She 





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DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 157 

had been spoken by the British fleet, and would 
undoubtedly have been recaptured if the Consti- 
tution had not appeared. A second vessel over- 
hauled and boarded proved to be an American 
brig with an English prize crew on board. She 
was released by taking out her prize master and 
crew and putting on board men taken from the 
Constitution. 

Captain Hull now determined to change his 
cruising-ground, as he learned from some of the 
prisoners that the British squadron which had 
chased his ship off New York was cruising on the 
Grand Banks quite near him. On August 16, he 
therefore headed to the southward, and the next 
day gave chase to a brig, which he found to be the 
privateer Decatur, of Salem. During the chase, 
her captain, supposing the Constitution to be a 
British frigate, had made every effort to escape, 
and had thrown overboard twelve of his fourteen 
guns to lighten the ship. His voyage proved pecul- 
iarly unfortunate, as he had not made a single 
caj)ture, and here he had lost his battery to no 
purpose. He did, however, induce Captain Hull 
to change his course more to the southward, by 
telling him that he had sighted a British frigate 
cruising in that direction on the day before. At 
two o'clock on the afternoon of the 19th, in latitude 
41° 42', longitude 55° 48', a sail was discovered 



158 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

from the masthead bearing about E. S. E., and 
the Constitution bore off to intercept her with 
all sail set and a good breeze on the starboard 
quarter. One hour later she was made out to be a 
frigate sailing by the wind on the starboard tack. 
This ship proved to be the Guerriere. She had 
left the British squadron off New York and was 
proceeding to Halifax for repairs and equipment. 

She maintained her course, and the Constitu- 
tion approached her rapidly under a fresh breeze. 
At five o'clock they were about two miles apart. 
The Constitution took in her light sails, hauled 
up her courses, got all snug below and ready for 
action, and beat to quarters. The crew gave three 
cheers. In the meantime the Guerriere had run 
the British ensign up to each masthead and had 
backed her mainsail in order to wait for her enemy 
to come up. At 5.05 she discharged her starboard 
broadside without hitting anything, then wore 
around immediately and discharged her port broad- 
side. Two shots took effect, but most of them were 
too high. The Constitution then hoisted an ensign 
and a jack at each masthead, and began firing with 
as many of her bow guns as she could bring to bear. 
For three quarters of an hour the battle continued 
in this way, the British ship wearing from time 
to time to fire a broadside, and the American 
ship yawing to avoid being raked and to send an 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 159 

occasional shot from her bow guns. Finding 
that nothing was accomplished in this way, Cap- 
tain Hull wore around, set the main topgallant- 
sail, and headed directly for the enemy, who now 
bore up with the wind on the port quarter. In 
this position the two ships were sailing in the 



\ 



CONSTITUTION 

*2 P.M. 




6.05 PmT i^*^ 



DIAGBAM OF ACTION BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE 
GUERRIERE, AUG. 19, 1812. LAT. 41° 42' N. ; LONG. 55° 48' W. 

same direction, with the Constitution overhauling 
the other on the windward side. She soon closed, 
and at five minutes after six both ships opened a 
very heavy fire as the broadside guns began to 
bear. 

Up to this time, the greater part of the Ameri- 



160 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

can crew had remained at their quarters, impas- 
sive spectators of what was going on, and while 
they were running up alongside of the Guerriere 
the gunners stood with locked strings in their 
hands waiting in silence for the order to fire. 
Several of them were killed beside their guns, and 
Lieutenant Morris became very impatient to begin 
firing. Hull restrained him. The situation must 
have been extremely trying to the men at both 
the sails and the guns, to be brought thus under a 
heavy fire without the heartening excitement of 
striking back. The order came at last, and Hull's 
good judgment was soon demonstrated. In ten 
minutes the enemy's mizzen-mast was struck by 
a carronade shot and fell over the starboard side, 
knocking a large hole in the counter. In the ex- 
citement of the conflict, one of the American 
sailors exclaimed at this moment, " Damn it. Jack, 
but we have made a brig of her ! " The Constitu- 
tion passed ahead about two hundred yards off the 
port beam continuing her fire. At twenty minutes 
past six Captain Hull put the helm hard aport to 
cross the Guerriere's bow and rake her, but many 
of the braces had been cut away and some of the 
sails had been disabled, so that the ship did not 
swing as quickly as he desired. There was time 
to fire only two raking broadsides, which did fear- 
ful execution, before the Guerriere's bowsprit and 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 161 



jib-boom had fouled the lee mizzen rigging of the 
Constitution. While they were entangled, the 
Constitution received a shot through her cabin and 
took fire, but the flames were soon extinguished. 
The Guerriere's bowsprit offered so convenient a 
passage for boarding that Mr. 
Morris got up on the taffrail to 
see if the British were collect- 
ing for that purpose. He evi- 
dently thought they were, and 
Captain Hull was therefore in- 
duced to call away men to repel 
the boarders. Captain Dacres 
had actually given the orders to 
board. Mr. Morris endeavored 
to pass a lashing around the 
Guerriere's bowsprit in order to 
keep her in a disadvantageous 
position, but he was shot through 
the body and fell over on the handing up powder 
deck. Lieutenant William S. Bush, of the Ma- 
rines, standing near by, was killed, and Mr. Alwyn 
was wounded at the same time. The logr-book 
of an officer on the Guerriere states that the wreck- 
age of the fallen mizzen-mast brought the ship up 
into the wind against her helm (very much as a 
drag thrown out to leeward would affect a ship 
under way), and exposed her to a heavy raking fire. 




162 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

When the Constitution wore around lier bow she 
was practically helpless, and the resulting colli- 
sion must have weakened her standing rigging ; 
for immediately after they separated, the foremast 
and mainmast went by the board and left her 
an unmanageable wreck rolling her main-deck 
guns under water. At half past six, when even the 
spritsail yard had gone, the case was hopeless, and 
Captain Dacres fired a shot to leeward in token of 
surrender. Captain Hull, seeing that the Guer- 
riere was incapable of further resistance, stood off a 
few ship's-lengths to reeve new braces and examine 
his shij) for injuries, but only a short time was re- 
quired for this. At seven o'clock, he had come 
about and placed his ship under the enemy's lee in 
readiness to continue the fight. Captain Dacres 
immediately struck his flag. When Lieutenant 
George C. Read went on board to take possession, 
he found the spar-deck a horrible spectacle. Th^ 
masts and yards were hanging over the side, many 
guns were dismounted, and the bodies of the dead 
and dying were lying as they had fallen amid the 
tangle of ropes and rigging. The hull was in a 
sinking condition, and in some places adjacent j)ort- 
holes had been knocked into one by the tearing 
out of intermediate timbers. A report of the 
ship's condition was sent back to Captain Hull, and 
his boats were quickly hoisted out to remove the 




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DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 163 

prisoners. A surgeon's mate went on board to 
assist with the wounded. 

The crew which surrendered numbered 267. 
Fifteen had been killed, making a total of 282 men 
in all at the beginning of the action. Ten of these 
were Americans, who had been allowed to go below 
to spare them from serving against their own 
countrymen. The battery of the Guerriere was 
composed of thirty long 18-pounders on the gun- 
deck, and two long 12-pounders, one 18-pound 
carronade and sixteen 32-pound carronades on the 
spar-deck, or forty-nine guns in all, firing a broad- 
side of 536 pounds. Her tonnage was 1338, or 
about eighty-five hundredths of her adversary's. 

The Constitution carried at this time 456 officers 
and men. Her battery has been given, but it may 
be re-stated here for a more ready comparison. 
There were thirty long 24-pounders on the gun- 
deck, twenty-two 32-pound carronades on the spar- 
deck, and two long 24-pounders and one long 
18-pounder as bow chasers on the forecastle, in all 
fifty-five guns with a broadside weighing actually 
684 pounds, nominally 736 pounds. She was in 
every respect, in size, construction, battery and 
crew, superior to her antagonist ; besides, her men 
were vastly better trained in gunnery, and the ship 
was handled with greater skill. The Guerriere 
lost 15 killed and 63 wounded, as against 7 killed 



164 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

and 7 wounded on the American side. One of 
the latter' s killed was accidentally blown from 
the muzzle of a gun while putting in the powder, 
because he had not thoroughly sponged out the 
powder-chamber. There was no comparison in 
the damage inflicted ; one ship was practically 
destroyed, while the other was ready for another 
chase a few hours afterwards. Her masts and 
yards had received a few shots in them, and some 
of the rigging was carried away. The hull hardly 
suffered at all. Our ship is said to have ob- 
tained her sobriquet, " Old Ironsides," during 
this fiffht. A seaman noticed a shot strike the side 
and fall back into the sea, and shouted, " Huzza, 
her sides are made of iron ! " Sir Howard 
Douglass says of this battle that the masts of 
the Guerriere had already been crippled by stress 
of sail and by decay, and that several of the guns 
and carronades broke loose owing to the perishing 
condition of their breechings. The decayed state 
of the timbers permitted the breeching-bolts to pull 
through the side. He admits, however, that these 
untoward circumstances and the difference in size 
and equipment are not sufficient to account for the 
disparity of loss in killed and wounded. There is 
testimony, on the other hand, that Captain Dacres 
thought his ship an uncommonly good representa- 
tive of her class. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 165 

An examination of the Guerriere and an at- 
tempt at towing demonstrated the impossibility 
of getting her into port, and Captain Hull gave 
orders to burn her. All the prisoners were taken 
out, and Lieutenant Read set fire to her on the 
afternoon of the 20th. She blew up soon after, 
and the Constitution sailed for Boston, where 
she arrived on August 30. Captain Dacres had 
closed his interview with an American frigate 
wounded and a prisoner of war. He had been so 
eager to meet one of them, and so confident of the 
result, that he had written a challenge on the reg- 
ister of the John Adams, a merchant-ship out of 
Liverpool, as follows : — 

"Captain Dacres, commander of His Britannic Ma- 
jesty's frigate Guerriere of forty-four guns, presents 
his compliments to Commodore Rodgers, of the United 
States frigate President, and will be very hajipy to 
meet him or any other American frigate of equal force 
to the President off Sandy Hook, for the purpose of 
having a few minutes' tete-a-tete." 

This communication would indicate a vainglo- 
rious, swaggering disposition, but Captain Dacres 
seems to have been a very honorable, conscientious 
officer. His report to Vice- Admiral Sawyer was to 
the point and perfectly straightforward, although 
he did not agree with Captain Hidl in some minor 
particulars. He says of his captors, " I feel it my 



166 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

duty to state that the conduct of Captain Hull and 
his officers to our men has been that of a brave 
enemy ; the greatest care being taken to prevent 
our men losing the smallest trifle and the greatest 
attention being paid to the wounded." 

It is said that just before setting fire to the 
Guerriere Captain Hull asked Captain Dacres if 
there was anything he would like to save from his 
ship. He said, " Yes, my mother's Bible, which I 
have carried with me for years." An officer was 
sent to get it, and from that moment a friendship 
sprang up between these two captains that lasted 
until Hull's death in 1843. 

Another story exhibits in a very favorable 
light the character, not only of Captain Dacres, 
but also of a Yankee merchant - skipper. An 
American brig, commanded by Elijah Adams, 
bound into Boston from the coast of Portugal, was 
captured by the Guerriere not long before the 
action with the Constitution. Her cargo was salt, 
with silk stowed between decks ; and Dacres, 
after taking out the silk, agreed to ransom her for 
three or four thousand dollars, if the captain would 
give his note payable in Halifax. His son, a 
second Elijah Adams, was left on board as hostage, 
or guarantee. After the Constitution was sighted 
and her nationality made out, some of the English 
crew, by way of chaffing the young man, told him 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 167 

to cheer up, that he would have plenty of company 
soon. They really believed it, too. He was 
allowed to go into the cock-pit with other Amer- 
icans in the crew, where they would be out of dan- 
ger. They could hear the firing, but could not see 
it. After the surrender, the youth was transferred 
to the Constitution with the prisoners, and reached 
Boston in ten days. His father's ship was a slow 
sailer, and came jogging up the harbor after dark 
several days later. The old gentleman reached 
home in Sudbury Street at midnight, and the front 
door was opened by his son, the hostage. " Well, 
where in thunder did you come from?" he ex- 
claimed. The story of the fight was soon told. A 
day or two afterwards Captain Adams had an inter- 
view with Captain Dacres in reference to the status 
of his bond. He had no thought but to pay it, 
unless some arrangement could be made on account 
of the capture of the Guerriere. Captain Dacres 
said, " No, that money belongs to my crew. I will 
give you my share of it, but I can not relinquish 
theirs. I must take care of my boys." The old 
captain was a poor man, but he made no attempt to 
evade the responsibility, and paid his note on that 
basis.^ Some parts of young Adams's story are 

^ The story of this bond was told to the writer by Mr. William 
Lincoln in his ninety-third year, from personal recollections of 
Elijah Adams, the son. 



168 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

omitted, as they are only repetitions of what 
appears in the following extract from the private 
journal of Captain William B. Orne, published for 
the first time in Coggeshall's " History of the 
American Privateers." 

" I commanded the American brig Betsey, in the year 
1812, and was returning home from Naples, Italy, to 
Boston. When near the western edge of the Grand 
Bank of Newfoundland, on the 10th of August, 1812, I 
fell in with the British frigate Guerriere, Captain 
Dacres, and was captured by him. Myself and a boy 
were taken on board of the frigate ; the remainder 
of my officers and men were left in the Betsey, and sent 
into Halifax, N. S., as a prize to the Guerriere. On 
the 19th of the same month, when in latitude 41° 41' 
North, longitude about 55° 40' West, the wind being 
fresh from the northward, the Guerriere was under 
double-reefed topsails during all the forenoon of this 
day. At two P. M., we discovered a large sail to wind- 
ward, bearing about North from us. We soon made her 
out to be a frigate. She was steering off from the 
wind, with her head to the Southwest, evidently with 
the intention of cutting us off as soon as possible. Sig- 
nals were soon made by the Guerriere, but as they were 
not answered, the conclusion of course was, that she 
was either a French or an American frigate. Captain 
Dacres appeared anxious to ascertain her character, and 
after looking at her for that purpose, handed me his 
spy-glass, requesting me to give him my opinion of the 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIEEE 169 

stranger. I soon saw from the peculiarity of her sails, 
and from her general appearance, that she was, without 
doubt, an American frigate, and communicated the same 
to Captain Dacres. He immediately replied, that he 
thought she came down too boldly for an American, but 
soon after added : ' The better he behaves, the more 
honor we shall gain by taking him.' 

The two ships were rapidly approaching each other, 
when the Guerriere backed her main-topsail, and waited 
for her opponent to come down, and commence the 
action. He then set an English flag at each mast-head, 
beat to quarters, and made ready for the fight. When 
the strange frigate came down to within two or three 
miles distance, he hauled upon the wind, took in all his 
light sails, reefed his topsails, and deliberately prepared 
for action. It was now about five o'clock in the after- 
noon, when he filled away and ran down for the Guer- 
riere. At this moment Captain Dacres politely said to 
me : '• Captain Orne, as I suppose you do not wish to 
fight against your own countrymen, you are at liberty 
to go below the water-line.' It was not long after this 
before I retired from the quarter-deck to the cock-pit ; 
of course I saw no more of the action until the firing 
ceased, but I heard and felt much of its effects ; for 
soon after I left the deck, the firing commenced on 
board the Guerriere, and was kept up almost incessantly 
until about six o'clock, when I heard a tremendous explo- 
sion from the opposing frigate. The effect of her shot 
seemed to make the Guerriere reel, and tremble as 
though she had received the shock of an earthquake. 



170 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Immediately after this, I heard a tremendous crash on 
deck, and was told the mizzen-mast was shot away. In 
a few moments afterward, the cock-pit was filled with 
wounded men. At about half -past six o'clock in the even- 
ing, after the firing had ceased, I went on deck, and there 
beheld a scene which it would be difficult to describe ; 
all the Guerri^re's masts were shot away, and as she 
had no sails to steady her, she lay rolling like a log in 
tlie trough of the sea. Many of the men were employed 
in throwing the dead overboard. The decks were cov- 
ered with blood, and had the appearance of a butcher's 
slaughter-house ; the gun tackles were not made fast, 
and several of the guns got loose, and were surging to 
and fro from one side to the other. 

" Some of the petty officers and seamen, after the 
action, got liquor, and were intoxicated ; and what with 
the groans of the wounded, the noise and confusion of 
the enraged survivors of the ill-fated ship rendered the 
whole scene a perfect hell." 

This fight, one of the most dramatic in our his- 
tory, both in its action and in its immediate effect 
upon the country, supplied the periodicals with 
many stories which have been told and retold to 
generations of our youth. Naturally, every man 
in a crew of 461 would have some individual expe- 
rience to relate which lost nothing in the telling. 
The time of enlistment ran out, the men scattered 
to other ships, and the tales of the " Old Consti- 
tution " which within a generation became current 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 171 

throughout the service would fill volumes. They 
differ more or less in detail, and some would not 
now be recognized by their own parents ; yet they 
all agree in representing Hull as a fearless and 
magnanimous commander. His skill and coolness 
in handling a ship became proverbial, and his crew 
had absolute confidence in him. It is said that 
when Captain Dacres was climbing up the side 
of the Constitution, Hull went to meet him, and 
reaching out his hand said, as to an old friend, 
" Dacres, give me your hand, I know you are hurt." 

One incident connected with the action is well 
authenticated. The flag at the foretopgallant 
masthead was shot away, and an Irish lad, Daniel 
Hogan, climbed up and lashed it in place. He 
afterwards had his hand badly lacerated in the 
action with the Java by the lead flying from the 
scupper through which a shot passed, and in 1844 
applied for admission to the Naval Asylum for 
aged seamen. 

In order to comprehend the exultation over this 
victory, it is necessary only to consider the state of 
the country, and especially the discouragement of 
the port from which the Constitution had sailed. 
The summer of 1812 had presented a gloomy out- 
look. Incompetence reigned on land, and the cam- 
paign against upper Canada had proved an utter 
failure. General Hull's surrender on land occurred 



172 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

only a few days before Captain Hull's triumph on 
the sea. Nothing was expected of the Navy. 
Many merchant-ships were shut up in Boston, and 
trade was dead. The open talk of secession and 
the dismal prediction of disaster served only to 
intensify the gloom. The appearance of the Con- 
stitution was like a bright gleam in the darkness. 
We were not absolutely impotent after all, even 
against the greatest sea-power of the world, and 
ship for ship we had nothing to fear. The charm 
was broken. Here was something over which all 
sections alike could rejoice, in which all parties 
could unite, and which belonged to the country as 
a whole. It is small wonder that some people 
seemed to have gone mad. 

Captain Hull and his officers were received with 
open arms. A dinner in their honor was given 
at Faneuil Hall on September 5. They were 
marched up State Street in a procession with many 
of Boston's leading citizens of both political par- 
ties, and thousands lined the sidewalks to see them. 
The repast was what the Palladium called an " ex- 
cellent dinner." It must have been interminable, 
for seventeen toasts were drunk. From these the 
following have been selected as an evidence of the 
turn given to public opinion : — 

" The American Nation — May danger from abroad 
insure union at home." 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 173 

"Our Infant Navy — We must nurture the young 
Hercules in his cradle, if we mean to profit by the labors 
of his manhood." 

" The Victory we celebrate — An invaluable proof 
that we are able to defend our rights on the ocean." 

"No Entangling Alliance — We have suffered the 
injuries and insults of despotism with patience, but its 
friendship is more than we can bear." 

A more substantial reward took the shape of 
fifty thousand dollars prize money voted by Con- 
gress for the officers and men, a gold medal com- 
memorating the action for Captain Hull and silver 
medals for the other officers. Some of them re- 
ceived swords from their native States. 

The surprise and gloom produced in England 
over the disaster to their arms was equaled only 
by the inability to explain it. One English news- 
paper reached this conclusion : " From it the theory 
may be drawn that a contest with the Americans 
is more worthy of our arms than we at first sight 
imagined." The London Times added : " It is 
not merely that an English frigate has been taken 
after what we are free to confess may be called a 
brave resistance, but that it has been taken by 
a new enemy, — an enemy unaccustomed to such 
triumphs, and likely to be rendered confident by 
them. He must be a weak politician who does not 
see how important the first triumph is in giving a 



174 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

tone and character to the war." When other vic- 
tories followed, the despair of the British nation 
over the loss of a few ships was pitiful. They 
simply could not understand that they were fighting 
against people of the same blood and sea traditions, 
who had acquired extraordinary readiness and re- 
source by nearly two centuries of warfare against 
the wilderness. Their newspapers and even their 
naval historian, James, could not find words vile 
enough to describe us, and reference to our frigates 
as " manned by a handful of bastards and outlaws " 
seemed to express their measure of contempt. Our 
people were not slow to retaliate, and we have no 
cause to look back with pride upon the average 
newspaper articles of the day. Their language 
was boastful and often abusive. 

The first anchorage of the Constitution upon her 
arrival at Boston was about one and a half miles 
southeast of Boston Light, and a few hours later 
she moved into Nantasket Roads. Early the next 
day a fleet of five ships appeared outside, and Cap- 
tain Hull, fearing the English, slipped the cables 
in his haste to avoid being cut off from the en- 
trance to the harbor; but a few hours later the 
ships were discovered to be Commodore Rodgers's 
squadron. The Constitution was taken in, how- 
ever, and anchored near Long Wharf in order to 
parole and transfer the prisoners. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE GUERRIERE 175 

On September 3, Commodore Rodgers called for 
volunteers to go out in the President to meet some 
British ships reported on the coast, and sixty men 
at once responded from the Constitution ; but the 
report turned out to be false, and the men were 
returned three days later. A change of command- 
ers was now to be made, and the ship was moved 
up to the Navy Yard for some overhauling pre- 
paratory to hoisting the broad pennant of Commo- 
dore William Bainbridge as flagship of a small 
squadron. He took command on September 15, 
and the crew expressed their dissatisfaction so 
openly that a number of them were sent out of the 
ship for mutinous behavior. The removal of Cap- 
tain Hull was in no sense a reflection upon him. 
He had commanded his ship for two years, and now 
he voluntarily gave up in order that Bainbridge 
might have an opportunity. The next six weeks 
were spent in refitting and taking in stores. 

The officers detailed to the ship for this cruise 
were : — 

Captain, WiUiam Bainbridge. 

Lieutenants, George Parker, Beekman V. Hoffman, 
John T. Shubrick, Charles W. Morgan, and John C. 
Alwyn. 

Sailing-Tnaster, John Nichols. 

Midshipme7i, Thomas A. Beatty, Lewis German, Wil- 
liam L. Gordon, Ambrose D. Field, Frederick Baury, 



176 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Joseph Cross, John A. Belcher, William V. Taylor, 
Alexander Eskridge, James W. Delancy, James Green- 
law, William D. McCarty, Z. W. Nixon, John A. Wish, 
Dulaney Forrest, George H. Leverett, Henry Ward, 
John C. Long, John Packett, Richard Winter, and John 
C. Cummings. 

Chaplain, John Carleton. 

Surgeon, Amos A. Evans. 

Surgeon's Mates, Donaldson Yeates and Jolm D. 
Armstrong. 

Purser, Robert C. Ludlow. 

Lieutenants of Marines, John Contee and William H. 
Freeman. 



CHAPTER X 

DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA — CRUISE UNDER 
STEWART 

Captain Bainbridge got to sea on October 27 
in company with the Hornet, expecting to meet the 
Essex in the South Atlantic, where they were to 
cruise in squadron looking for British East India- 
men. He stopped at the Island Ferdinando de 
Noronha for fresh water, and left a letter ad- 
dressed to an alias for Captain David Porter of 
the Essex. This ship may be dismissed with the 
statement that Captain Porter obtained this letter 
about the middle of December and proceeded to 
Cape Frio, the rendezvous appointed, but missed 
the other ships. He cruised along the coast look- 
ing for them another month and finally determined 
to shift for himself. This was the beginning of 
his historic cruise in the Pacific. 

In the meantime, the Constitution and the Hor- 
net had arrived off San Salvador on the 13th of 
December. The voyage would have been unevent- 
ful but for constant trouble with the crew. The 



178 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

log contains records of many punishments. Bain- 
bridge does not appear to have been popular with 
his men, at least not until after the meeting with 
the Java. The Hornet was sent inside of the port 
to communicate with the American consul and to 
arrange for getting some stores. She found the 
British sloop-of-war Bonne Citoyenne at anchor and 
about to sail for England. Captain Lawrence of 
the Hornet conceived a hope of capturing her, and 
he went outside to await her sailing. In two weeks 
his patience gave out, and he sent a challenge to 
the Englishman to come out and fight him. The 
two ships carried the same number of guns and 
were otherwise equal, but, as the Bonne Citoyenne 
had on board a quantity of specie, her captain de- 
clined. It would seem at the present time that he 
was perfectly right. The most humane theory of 
war is to overpower the enemy with superior force 
or to out-manoeuvre him, and not to fight with pre- 
cisely equal forces except as a last resort. War 
should not be a series of carefully arranged duels 
on precisely equal terms. The correspondence was 
carried on through the consuls of the two countries, 
and Bainbridge offered to pledge himself not to 
interfere in any way between the combatants. It 
is difficult in these days to see how an American 
commodore was justified in entering any such com- 
pact. The presence of the two ships off the port 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 



179 



gave rise to considerable correspondence between 
the consul and the governor of the province, who 
conceived the neutrality violated by the Hornet's 
entering the port and subsequently establishing 



/ 8 Aja. 




410 P.l 
6 P.M." 



DIAGRAM OF ACTION BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE 
JAVA, DEC. 29, 1812. LAT. 13^ C S. ; LONG. 3^ W. 

what amounted to a blockade. He claimed that 
the presence of hostile ships cruising near the 
coast gave great dissatisfaction to his people. 

At the time of the challenge, as if to give proof 
of his disinterestedness. Commodore Bainbridge 



180 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

left the Hornet to watch the Bonne Citoyenne, and 
sailed for a cruise off the coast, with the evident 
intention of picking up anything bound into San 
Salvador. At nine o'clock on the morning of 
December 29, about thirty miles east of that port, 
two sails were sighted rather inshore to the north- 
ward. They were coming down before the wind, 
which was blowing from the N. E. The Consti- 
tution was heading offshore on the port tack. 
An hour later the two sails were made out to be 
two ships, one of them standing towards the shore 
and the other, a large frigate, heading directly for 
the Constitution. Captain Bainbridge tacked to 
the northward and westward to get a better look 
at her, and judging her to be a British ship, he 
came about once more to draw her offshore and 
away from her consort. The private signals which 
he hoisted were not answered, and the other ship 
was flying signals which he could not make out. 
They continued on parallel courses to the eastward 
for nearly two hours, the British gradually over- 
hauling the " chase," as they call the Constitution 
in their reports. This ship was the Java, a 38-gun 
frigate, bound from Spithead to the East Indies, 
and her companion was the American merchant- 
ship William, captured a few days before, and re- 
captured subsequently inshore by the Hornet. 
Shortly after noon both frigates ran up their 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 181 

colors, the Constitution flying national flags at the 
mizzen peak and the main topgallant masthead, 
and a jack at the foremast, while the Java flew 
her ensign at the mizzen peak, a union jack at the 
mizzen topgallant masthead, and another union 
jack lashed to the main rigging. 

At half past one, Bainbridge had gained what 
he considered a sufficient distance from the shore, 
and his ship was thereupon headed for the Java. 
Twenty minutes later she wore around to avoid 
being raked and steered a course to the southward 
as close on the port tack as she could sail. The 
Java was on the same course, but well to wind- 
ward, occupying almost exactly the same position 
relatively to the Constitution that the latter had 
occupied towards the Guerriere at the beginning 
of the earlier engagement. At two o'clock, both 
ships having shortened sail and cleared for action. 
Captain Bainbridge fired a shot across the bow of 
the Java, then about half a mile to windward, and 
immediately afterwards he fired a whole broadside, 
which did little damage. A general action ensued, 
both ships manoeuvring for advantageous posi- 
tions. They were a little too far apart for the 18- 
pounders of the British ship, and she probably 
tried to close in order to use her carronades more 
effectively, while the Constitution seems to have 
maintained a judicious distance until her opponent 



182 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

had been seriously weakened at long range. There 
is some conflict of testimony on this point. Lieu- 
tenant Chads states in his report of the fight that 
both ships " maneuvred to obtain advantageous 
positions, our opponent evidently avoiding close 
action and firing high to disable our masts, in 
which she succeeded too well." Captain Bain- 
bridge, on the other hand, writes, " A general 
action with round and grape then commenced ; the 
enemy keeping at a much greater distance than I 
wished ; but could not bring him to a close action 
without exposing ourselves to several rakes." The 
Java being the faster ship attempted three times 
to pass around her adversary's bow for raking, 
but Commodore Bainbridge avoided him by fir- 
ing a broadside and quickly wearing around on the 
other tack under cover of the smoke. The ships 
were extremely well handled on both sides. The 
British commander. Captain Henry Lambert, had 
the disadvantage of losing his bowsprit and jib- 
boom about an hour after the beginning of the 
action, and from that time on he seems to have felt 
that desperate measures were needed ; for he or- 
dered his ship to be laid on board. This manoeuvre 
was attended with failure and with fatal results in 
the loss of his foremast, although the ships were 
actually in contact at one time. Soon after the 
attempt Captain Lambert fell mortally wounded 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 183 

by a shot from the maintop of the Constitution. 
The musketry of the Americans posted in the tops 
was very effective, and the British lost many men 
by it. On the other hand, the marksmanship of the 
Java's crew was exceedingly poor, as they inflicted 
little damage after the first broadside. This broad- 
side had nevertheless been very destructive to the 
Constitution's men. Later in the action her wheel 
was carried away, but too late to affect the result. 
Commodore Bainbridge tells the story of the 
latter half of the fight in a few sentences of his 
journal. " At forty minutes past two, determined 
to close with the enemy notwithstanding his rak- 
ing. Set the fore and mainsail and luffed up close 
to him. At fifty minutes past two the enemy's jib- 
boom got foul of our mizzen rigging. At three the 
head of the enemy's bowsprit and jib-boom were 
shot away by us. At five minutes past three, shot 
away the enemy's foremast by the board. At 
fifteen minutes past three, shot away his main top 
mast just above the cap. At forty minutes past 
three, shot away the gaff and spanker boom. At 
fifty-five minutes past three shot away his mizzen- 
mast nearly by the board." This reads almost like 
target practice. In less than an hour he had cut off 
every stick of timber in the ship excepting part of 
the mainmast. Few of the Java's guns could be 
handled on account of the wreckage. 



184 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

At five minutes past four the Java had been dis- 
masted, her fire completely silenced, and her flag 
shot away. Captain Bainbridge therefore hauled 
ahead to repair rigging and examine his ship for 
injuries. Forty -five minutes later he wore around 
and stationed himself on his opponent's bows. In 
the mean time, Lieutenant Henry D. Chads, who 
had succeeded to the command, was making every 
effort to get the Java in a condition to continue 
the fight. He had run up a flag, had set a sail on 
the stump of the foremast and bowsprit, and had 
cleared the wreckage away from some of the guns ; 
but it was all in vain. The heavy rolling of the 
ship carried away the remains of the mainmast 
and hampered him with some more rigging to clear 
off. Seeing that the case was hopeless, he sur- 
rendered at half past five, and Lieutenant Parker 
was sent on board to take possession. The action 
had lasted something over two hours and the 
Java suffered the same fate as the Guerriere. 
Both were complete wrecks. These two ships had 
the same battery and were intended for similar 
crews, but the Java was carrying enough additional 
men as passengers to bring her total up to either 
377 or 426. There is much conflicting testimony 
on this subject and on her casualties. 

The Constitution lost, including three who 
subsequently died, twelve killed and twenty-two 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 185 

wounded, the commanding officer being among the 
latter. He remained on deck late into the ni£:ht 
notwithstanding two very painful wounds. Lieu- 
tenant John C. Alwyn died one month later of his 
injuries. The probable loss of the Java was forty- 
eight killed and one hundred and two wounded. 
Lieutenant Chads reported only twenty-two killed, 
but a letter from another officer was discovered 
giving the number as sixty. It is quite likely that 
only twenty-two were killed outright, and that 
many died of their wounds soon after the battle. 
Although the Constitution was the superior in 
every respect, and suffered somewhat in her rigging 
and masts, there was no comparison in the relative 
injury sustained by the two sides. One ship was 
destroyed, and the other was equal to a long voyage 
home without laying up for repairs. 

As stated before, the Java was on her way to 
India with a number of extra men for distribution 
in the fleet, besides Lieutenant General Hislop, 
newly appointed Governor of Bombay, and his staff. 
They all rendered service in some capacity. The 
gallantry and desperation with which their ship 
was fought is shown by her condition after surren- 
der. She was not fit to make a voyage to the 
United States, and Bainbridge did not like to 
take her into San Salvador, whose governor was 
decidedly unfriendly to the American cause. He 



186 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

therefore concluded to destroy her. Only one of 
the small boats survived the contest, fit for service, 
so that the removal of the prisoners and their bag- 
gage was very tedious. No attempt was made to 
take out the valuable stores intended for Bombay, 
but the wheel was removed and fitted on the Con- 
stitution to replace the one which had been shot 
away. Two days after the fight the Americans set 
fire to the Java, and she soon blew up. 

Both crews fought well in this action, and there 
are several recorded instances of enthusiasm for 
the flag even in the very presence of death. A 
seaman on the Constitution, John Cheever by name, 
was lying desperately wounded by the side of a 
dead comrade. When he heard the words, " The 
enemy has struck ! " he raised himself on one hand, 
gave three cheers, and fell back dead. 

In the proceedings of the court-martial to try the 
surviving officers and crew of the Java, the follow- 
ing testimony from James Humble, the boatswain, 
is interesting. " I was down about an hour, when 
I got my arm put a little to rights by a tourniquet 
being put on it — nothing else ; my hand was car- 
ried away and my arm wounded about the elbow. 
I put my arm into the bosom of my shirt, and went 
up again, when I saw the enemy ahead of us repair- 
ing his damages. I had my orders from Lieuten- 
ant Chads, before the action began, to cheer up the 
boarders with my pipe." 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 187 

A story bearing on this battle is told of Mr. 
Chads, years afterwards an admiral in the British 
Navy, by Mr. - B. F. Stevens, who served on the 
Constitution in China. In 1845, she went to Sin- 
gapore with a sick list of two hundred, and the first 
man to welcome her with offers of medical assist- 
ance was Commodore Chads of the British squad- 
ron. He remarked to Captain Percival, her com- 
mander, " The Constitution in her battle with the 
Java was manoeuvred in a masterly manner, and it 
made me regret that she was not British." 

The Constitution anchored in San Salvador on 
January 2, 1813, to land the prisoners on parole. 
General Hislop presented Commodore Bainbridge 
with a gold-mounted sword as an evidence of his 
gratitude for the kindness and consideration with 
which he had been treated, and Lieutenant Chads 
in his report to the British Admiralty made " grate- 
ful acknowledgement for the generous treatment 
Captain Lambert and his officers have experienced 
from our gallant enemy. Commodore Bainbridge 
and his officers." When Captain Lambert was 
carried out of the ship to die on shore, Bainbridge, 
suffering from his wounds, came on deck supported 
by two officers to bid him farewell and return his 
sword. The contrast at that time between the die*- 
nified, magnanimous bearing of the participants in 
this action and the tone of the writers who sub- 
sequently described them is very striking. 



188 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

On January 6 the Constitution sailed for liome, 
leaving the Bonne Citoyenne still bottled up by 
the Hornet. Commodore Bainbridge left orders 
for the latter to remain on the coast as long as 
Captain Lawrence deemed it necessary, but warned 
him not to let the British line-of -battle-ship Mon- 
tague catch him there. As a matter of fact, she 
did chase him into the harbor nearly three weeks 
later, and he escaped by night. On his way home 
he captured the British brig Peacock. 

The Constitution reached Boston on the last day 
of February, and Bainbridge landed next day, 
saluted by the cheers of his countrymen. Another 
procession of prominent citizens marched up the 
street, and another dinner was given in honor of 
the Constitution's victory. The Congress of the 
United States passed a vote of thanks and ordered 
the usual gold and silver medals to be struck off 
commemorating the action ; even the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts waxed jubilant over the 
triumph of our arms. Bainbridge became a hero, 
and later when he went to Washington the citizens 
of every town turned out to honor him. He found 
time, however, to write a letter concerning the 
prize money for his officers and crew. The sum 
appropriated as prize money for the total destruc- 
tion of the Guerriere had not yet been paid, as they 
had sjone to sea before the order reached Boston ; 



DESTRUCTION OF THE JAVA 189 

and now an additional $50,000 was appropriated 
for the destruction of the Java. Through Com- 
modore Bainbridge's efforts, both sums were paid 
over to the men within six weeks after they arrived 
in port. 

If the loss of the Guerriere took the English by- 
surprise, the capture of the Java carried conster- 
nation to their hearts. She was the third frigate 
lost to the Americans in five months. Orders were 
issued immediately that no frigate armed with 18- 
pounders should engage a frigate of 24-pounders, 
if the action could be avoided ; a very different 
state of mind from that which expected to " anni- 
hilate the contemptible Navy of the United States 
and sweep the American flag from the sea within 
a few months." Line-of-battle-ships were cut down 
to frigates and sent over to our coast, and the 
British squadron was largely reinforced. Added 
to the above, our position in Europe was vastly im- 
proved. 

These victories served another purpose for the 
time being. They stimulated Congress to renewed 
interest in the Navy, as our people began to see 
where their surest defense lay. It was too late ; 
but early in January, 1813, Congress passed a bill 
authorizing four line-of-battle ships and six addi- 
tional frigates. None of these got to sea before 
peace was declared, and in the mean time our small 



190 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

force was gradually expending itself upon its 
powerful opponent. Towards the end of the war 
it became difficult for our few frigates to get to 
sea, so closely was the blockade pressed. 

Soon after her arrival in Boston, the Constitu- 
tion went up to the Navy Yard for a thorough 
overhauling. Some of the timbers were rotting, 
and the engagement with the Java had weakened 
the masts. Commodore Bainbridge was trans- 
ferred to the Yard early in the spring, and Cap- 
tain Charles Stewart succeeded to the command. 
A new crew was shipped late in the fall of 1813, 
and almost a complete change was made in the list 
of officers. This crew was composed with few ex- 
ceptions of New England men. Old Ironsides had 
become very popular, as she was now looked upon 
as a lucky ship, so that there was no longer trouble 
in getting men to enlist for her. Captain Stewart 
sailed on the last day of the year for a cruise to 
the southward and eastward. He was in latitude 
10° 39', longitude 40° 50' W., on January 26, 
looking for East Indiamen. Thence he skirted 
the Guiana coast to the Windward Islands, ^i 
the middle of January he captured and destroyed 
the British 14-gun schooner Pictou, carrying a 
crew of seventy-five men. Nine days later the 
British frigate Pique, 36 guns, was chased through 
the Mona passage. She escaped during the night. 



CRUISE UNDER STEWART 



191 



Her captain had strict orders to avoid an unequal 
contest, and his ship was certainly inferior to the 
Constitution. This cruise was filled with disap- 
pointment to the men, as they were constantly 
sighting and chasing ships only to find them Amer- 
ican merchantmen ; but they managed to capture 




CONSTITOTIO*! 
10 A.M. 



'' TENEDOS 

10 A.M. 



12 Jt j:^- — ^'h. M. 



CHASE OF THE CONSTITUTION INTO aiABBLEHEAD HARBOR 

several prizes in the West Indies on their way 
home. The voyage ended on April 2, when the 
ship sighted the Portsmouth light. There another 
surprise and narrow escape awaited them. 

Early on the morning of the 3d they were head- 
ing for Portsmouth, but at sunrise the wind shifted 
to the northeast and it was found necessary to head 
around for Boston. By eight o'clock, the wind had 
hauled around to the N. N. W. and had almost 
died out, when suddenly two square-rigged vessels 



192 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

were sighted to the E. S. E. apparently coming up 
before a fresh breeze. They were soon made out 
to be men-of-war, and there was little doubt about 
their nationality. Captain Stewart was now in a 
very trying position. He had every stitch of can- 
vas spread to catch the faintest breath of air, and 
he lay fully an hour becalmed about three miles 
southeast of Thacher's Island. At ten o'clock he 
got the breeze from the southeast, when the two 
ships, the British 38-gun frigates Tenedos and 
Junon, were only three and a half miles away 
directly to the windward. There was nobody on 
board the Constitution who knew the channel be- 
tween Baker's Island and the Misery, otherwise 
Captain Stewart could have reached a place of safety 
at once by heading directly for Salem; but as 
he had no pilot, he held to the course which he 
knew had plenty of water and which carried him 
around Halfway Rock at the risk of being cut off. 
Shortly after ten o'clock he ordered spare spars, 
provisions, and some prize goods thrown overboard. 
Then the water was started and pumped out. 
Finally, finding that the ship was too much by the 
stern and was only just holding her own, he started 
the spirits in the spirit-room to bring her to her 
best sailing trim. It is an odd commentary on the 
old Navy that a frigate carried enough whiskey to 
make a decided difference in her draught. The 



CRUISE UNDER STEWART 193 

sacrifice proved effectual ; for by noon she had 
rounded Halfway Rock and squared away for Mar- 
blehead. From this time on our old ship gained, 
and by one o'clock she was safely at anchor under 
the guns of Fort Sewall, with the Tenedos and 
Junon lying six miles outside. The militia was 
summoned from every town along the coast to 
help defend her, but the enemy sailed away in the 
afternoon, and Captain Stewart moved into Salem 
harbor at high water. He remarked to the pilot, 
Captain Knott Martin, who took the ship over to 
Salem, " I could have saved 110,000 if I had had 
you on board this morning, as I had to throw over- 
board that amount in prize goods." 

A few days later the Constitution slipped into 
Boston harbor and was shut in for eight and a half 
months. By the end of 1813, the British had 
ceased to deal tenderly with New England, whose 
loyalty to the Union they had at first suspected. 
When it became evident that the project of bring- 
ing about a separation through Canadian agents 
had failed utterly, the blockade was at once tightly 
drawn about the whole coast. Other frigates were 
in like case with the Constitution. The Constella- 
tion was held in Norfolk, and the United States in 
New London, until the end of the war. The only 
possibility of getting out was during a gale of 
wind, and Captain Stewart did not obtain this 



194 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

opportunity until the winter months increased the 
hardships and difficulties before the English sailors. 
The citizens of Boston were very much alarmed 
over a threatened attack upon the principal sea- 
ports of New England, particularly as the stores 
and ships at the Navy Yard presented strong in- 
centives to the British squadron. Commodore 
Bainbridge made every possible provision for de- 
fense. The Independence, a line-of-battle-ship 
just launched, was armed with a few guns and so 
anchored near the Constitution as to cover the 
channel into the harbor. Several batteries were 
erected on the shore to the same end. The militia 
of Boston and Charlestown volunteered their ser- 
vices, and preparations were made for a vigorous 
defense. When the enemy really appeared out- 
side, the Commodore wrote a letter to the adjutant- 
general of the State requesting his cooperation, 
and failing to stir up much activity on the part of 
the state authorities, he wrote a second time. A 
committee appointed by the governor suggested 
that, as the ships were the principal object of 
attack, they should be moved below Fort Warren 
where the enemy could get at them without the 
risk of destroying any part of Boston or Charles- 
town. This was positively refused, as it meant the 
removal of our ships from the support of the land 
batteries. Not even the corsairs had been willing 




H 






o 



CRUISE UNDER STEWART 195 

to sacrifice their ships in that way. The old Con- 
stitution was probably saved once more by the 
firmness of Commodore Bainbridge. He never 
questioned the bravery and patriotism of the Boston 
people, but he attributed their blindness to the 
support of party rather than of the nation. Sub- 
sequently, when the danger became even more 
threatening, a few public-spirited men of both par- 
ties succeeded in securing the cordial assistance of 
the State, and such measures were adopted as to 
render the entrance to the harbor very dangerous. 
The British squadron prudently drew off the coast 
at the approach of winter. 

It is only fair to say that while the Massachu- 
setts people were immensely proud of their ship, 
the relation of the state troops to the Federal au- 
thorities was not well understood. The governor 
conceded that the President had power to call out 
and command the militia when it was necessary 
" to execute the laws of the Union, sup23ress insur- 
rection, and to repel invasion," but in his opinion 
these exigencies had not arisen. The confusion 
over the defense of Bostqn harbor turned, therefore, 
upon the question of the President's right to decide 
when the occasion had arisen for the exercise of 
the authority given to him by the constitution. 



CHAPTER XI 

CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 

The absence of the British finally gave the Con- 
stitution a clear passage to sea. In December, the 
blockading force consisted of the 50-gun frigate 
Newcastle, built expressly for use against the 
American 44-gun frigates, the 40-gun frigate 
Acasta, and the 18-gun brig sloop Arab. On the 
12th, the Newcastle was off the entrance to Boston 
harbor, and discovered that the Constitution was 
ready for sea. She proceeded at once to Cape Cod 
Bay, for some unexplained reason, and met the 
Acasta on the 16th. This left Boston Roads com- 
paratively open, and having no doubt received in- 
formation of the whereabouts of the British ships, 
Captain Stewart was not slow to take advantage of 
his opportunity. He put to sea on December 18, 
and succeeded in getting entirely clear of the land 
without molestation. 

The senior officers on board at this time were : — 

Captain, Charles Stewart. 

Lieutenants, Henry Ballard, Beekman V. Hoffman, 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 197 

William B. Shubrick, William M. Hunter, Richard 
Winter, and William V. Taylor. 

Sailing-master, Samuel C. Hixon. 

Captain of Marines, Archibald Henderson. 

The ship was headed for another cruise to the 
southeast. Eight days out, near the Bermudas, 
she overhauled the British merchant-ship. Lord 
Nelson, parted from her convoy, in distress, and 
placed a prize crew on board of her. 

The log for Christmas day gives the fate of this 
little vessel in the following brief record : — 

Sunday, December 25. — Changed the officer in the 
prize brig — she not keeping sufficiently near ; after- 
wards took her in tow and sent people on board to break 
out the hold and remove such things as might be useful 
to the Constitution. Sent Lieut. Taylor on board with 
orders to cut away her masts. Through some miscon- 
struction of his orders, he scuttled her. Latitude 
33° 32' N. Longitude 59° 16' W. 

In the early part of February they were cruising 
off the coast of Portuo^al, havino^ visited the neiq;h- 
borhood of the Madeiras and the Bay of Biscay 
in the interval. On the 8th, Captain Stewart spoke 
the barque Julia, fifteen days out from Cork, under 
Hamburg colors, and learned that peace had been 
signed at Ghent. This report was corroborated 
later on the same day, as stated by the ship's log. 



198 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

At four o'clock a boat was sent to board " a Rus- 
sian brig from Kinsale bound to Amelia Island, out 
fifteen days. Two American masters of vessels, 
passengers, came on board and brought papers 
which confirmed the report of peace having been 
concluded at Ghent between the commissioners." 

Such news did not dampen the ardor of our sea- 
men for one more good fight, and the ship headed 
leisurely down the coast in search of a proper an- 
tagonist ; but they were doomed to disappointment 
in that locality. A British merchant - ship was 
picked up on the 17th, and sent home as a prize. 
Still the officers and men suffered great discour- 
agement over their failure to repeat the former 
triumph of " Old Ironsides," and it was with ex- 
treme dejection that they saw the cruise ending 
without an important capture. By one of those 
curious fancies which sometimes strike men. Cap- 
tain Stewart one morning assured them that they 
would meet the enemy before sunset the next day. 
He headed for the Madeiras once more, and, strange 
to relate, his prediction was fulfilled. 

On the afternoon of February 20, at one o'clock, 
a sail was sighted two points off the port bow. A 
light haze had settled down over the water, and 
objects could not readily be made out. The Con- 
stitution was in latitude 33° 44' N., and longitude 
14° 39' W., on a course between south and south- 




Esq 
Q 

;?; 
I— I 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 199 

west, with a moderate breeze from the northeast. 
She immediately gave chase, and soon brought a 
large ship into plain view. Shortly afterwards, 
another sail was discovered somewhat to the west- 
ward of the first. Both were standing to the 




DIAGRAM OF ACTION BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE 
CYANE AND LEVANT, FEB. 20, 1815. LAT. 33° 44' N., LONG. 14=' 
39' W. 

northward with their starboard tacks on board. 
The nearest was the British frigate - built ship 
Cyane, commanded by Captain Gordon Thomas 
Falcon, aud the other, the ship sloop Levant, Cap- 
tain the Honorable George Douglas. They were 
proceeding in company from Gibraltar to the West 
Indies, and both commanders had heard before 



200 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

leaving port that the Constitution was in the neigh- 
borhood. At four o'clock, the Cyane made sail 
before the wind to join her consort and to enable 
her commander to consult with Captain Douglas, 
who was his senior. In the meantime the Consti- 
tution was bearing down upon them under stud- 
ding-sails. At half past four her main royal mast 
carried away, and she lost some distance while 
getting up a new mast. She began firing her bow 
guns at the Cyane about five o'clock, but the shot 
fell short. Soon afterwards the two British ships 
were within hail of each other, and they immedi- 
ately hauled aboard their starboard tacks and en- 
deavored to gain to windward of the Constitution. 
The object of the two commanders was evidently 
to delay the action until night, when by manoeu- 
vring under cover of darkness they might hope to 
succeed in crippling their opponent. It is quite 
doubtful if Captain Douglass would have entered 
this contest but for two valuable convoys that had 
sailed from Gibraltar at about the same time his 
ships got away. He hoped by disabling the Con- 
stitution to prevent her from intercepting them. 
Captain Stewart, on the other hand, had exerted 
every effort to get in a few blows on the Cyane 
before she could reach the support of the Lev?.nt ; 
but his mainmast delayed him. Neither side met 
with a full measure of success in the preliminary 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 201 

movements. The British ships failed to outwind 
the Constitution, and were forced into action within 
supporting distance of each other just after sunset. 
About six o'clock they ran up red English ensigns 
and formed in a line with the wind on the star- 
board beam, the Levant being two or three ship's- 
lengths in advance. The Constitution hoisted her 
colors, and at five minutes past six invited the con- 
test by firing a shot between the two ships. She 
was at this time only 300 yards on the starboard 
side of the Cyane and slowly passing her. Broad- 
sides were exchanged immediately, and for fifteen 
minutes a very hot action ensued. The sea was 
covered with a light mist, and the moon came out, 
while dense masses of smoke formed to leeward 
of each ship. When it finally cleared away from 
the Constitution she found herself abreast of the 
Levant with the Cyane luffing up astern to deliver 
a raking broadside. Captain Stewart quickly fired 
a broadside into the Levant ; then, hidden in the 
smoke of his own guns, braced the after sails aback 
and went astern enough to pour a heavy fire into 
the Cyane. As her companion wore to come back 
to her assistance, the Constitution's sails were again 
filled. She shot ahead and fired two broadsides 
into the stern of the Levant as she was turning. 
Captain Falcon, seeing the extremely hazardous 
position of the latter, gallantly stood in between 



202 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

the two ships to take this fire, and Captain Doug- 
las immediately drew out of the combat with his 
braces gone and his ship badly cut up. The Cyane 
now attempted to go off before the wind, but the 
Constitution wore short around and gave her a rak- 
ing fire over the stern. As she luffed up and fired 
her port broadside, Stewart placed his ship within 
hail on her port quarter, where he held her practi- 
cally at his mercy. Finding the case hopeless. Cap- 
tain Falcon fired a gun to leeward and hoisted a 
light in token of surrender, just forty minutes after 
the first broadside had been fired. His ship was 
hulled a number of times between wind and water, 
five carronades had broken loose, much of the rig- 
ging was gone, the main and mizzen-masts were in 
danger of falling over the side, and many of his 
men were disabled. 

Lieutenant Hoffman was at once sent on board 
with a small crew. The officers were removed to 
the Constitution and the crew left on board under 
guard of fifteen marines. This transfer occupied 
nearly an hour, and at seven forty-five Captain 
Stewart filled away again in pursuit of the Levant. 
But Captain Douglas did not know that the Cyane 
had surrendered, and he had no idea of running 
away from her. He had simply hauled out to 
reeve new braces and repair damages. At eight 
o'clock he was discovered standing for the Consti- 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 203 

tution, and forty minutes later they passed within 
fifty yards of each other on opposite tacks. They 
exchanged broadsides, and the Constitution headed 
around under the stern of the Levant and raked 
her. Perceiving now that the Cyane had struck, 
Captain Douglas attempted to run, but it was too 
late. His wheel had been shot away in the last 
broadside, and his lower masts had been badly 
wounded. After a chase of half an hour he sur- 
rendered, and Lieutenant Ballard was sent to take 
possession. Three hours sufficed to put the Consti- 
tution in good fighting trim once more and to trans- 
fer some of the prisoners. 

This battle is noted for the splendid seamanship 
of the Americans and the gallant behavior of the 
English. Captain Stewart had succeeded, by run- 
ning and backing from one ship to the other, in 
fighting each separately, and in preventing his own 
ship from being raked. There is nothing finer in 
our annals. He had the advantage of the weather 
gauge from the start, and his movements were 
often obscured by the haze and smoke. A large 
part of the action was fought by moonlight. The 
British ships, being smaller and lighter, were 
much more easily disabled than the Constitution, 
and their batteries were less formidable. This 
does not appear to be so if the total weight of 
broadside is taken as a measure of their power. 



204 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

The Cyane carried twenty-two 32-pound carron- 
ades on her gun-deck, and ten 18-pound carronades 
and two long 12-pounders on her spar-deck, — 
thirty-four guns in all, firing a broadside of 454 
pounds. The battery of the Levant was all oh 
one deck : eighteen 32-pound carronades, two long 
9-pounders, and one shifting 12-pounder, throwing 
309 pounds of metal at one broadside. Thus the 
total broadside fire of the two ships was 763 
pounds, as compared with a nominal weight of 704 
pounds on the Constitution ; but the English guns 
were less effective at short range, and the sides of 
their ships were much lighter and more vulnerable 
than those of their antagonist. It was something 
akin to a battle between a modern armored ship 
and two smaller protected cruisers whose guns 
have to be used at close quarters to do any great 
amount of damage. Captain Stewart, however, did 
not take advantage of his long guns, as he prob- 
ably thought he had a better chance of capturing 
both ships by coming to close quarters at once. 
The crew of the Constitution numbered 451 men 
at this time, and she lost 6 killed and 9 wounded. 
Her antagonists lost 19 killed and 42 wounded, out 
of a total of 320. The Cyane carried 180 men, 
and her share of the casualties was 38, while the 
Levant had 140 men and lost 23. The disparity 
on the two sides was therefore very great, both in 
casualties and damages. 




CHARLES STEWART 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 205 

This was the last great fight of our old ship, as 
it was the last frigate action of the war. It may 
be a delicate question of ethics whether Captain 
Stewart ought to have gone into it or not, know- 
ing that peace had been declared. The English- 
men probably knew it also ; but the fighting 
spirit which made of naval war a series of duels 
still prevailed, and they would have been con- 
demned as cowards had any of them shown signs 
of hesitancy. Besides, it was not known that the 
treaty had been accepted by the two governments. 

This battle has left us the usual number of 
stories, most of which have no greater value than 
the ordinary newspaper report. One incident is 
interesting for the glimpse it affords us of the 
Yankee sailor's peculiarities. When the tub of 
grog was brought on deck for serving out just be- 
fore the action began, the men turned it into the 
scuppers, saying the}^ wanted " no Dutch courage 
on board." It may be added that they promptly 
sent a request into the cabin for the customary 
issue after the action. In connection with this 
combat, a queer tale is told by Cooper as a warn- 
ing against committing men to the deep before 
ascertaining that they are dead. " The light of 
the moon proved of great service to one poor fel- 
low. In the heat of the combat, a man at one 
of the forecastle guns fell at the precise moment 



206 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

when a shot entered near him. He was reported 
dead, and an order was given to pass the body- 
across the deck, and to throw it overboard. A 
midshipman and two men were thus employed, 
but were baffled in endeavoring to pass the shoul- 
ders through a port. The midshipman sprang 
over into the fore-chains to assist, when he saw 
some muscles of the supposed dead man's face 
twitching, and he ordered the body drawn back, 
and passed below to the surgeons. Before the 
Levant struck, the man was back at his gun, fight- 
ing as well as the rest of them. He was subject 
to fits and had fallen in one, but recovered in time 
to return to his quarters. The story should be 
told, as a warning against haste in such cases. 
Thousands are buried alive on shore, and living 
men are sometimes committed to the deep in the 
hurry of sea-fights." 

Among the anecdotes of this action there is 
another which relates that a shot killed two men 
in the waist, passed through a boat in which two 
tigers were chained and lodged in the head of a 
spar. 

The intercourse between the British and their 
captors does not appear to have been as pleasant 
and cordial as upon former occasions. The log of 
the Constitution abounds in such statements as the 
following : — 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 207 

" Complaint by prisoners of having lost various arti- 
cles. Thorough search made for them." 

" Mustered all hands with their bags and made thor- 
ough search of all parts of the ship for missing articles ; 
found a few old coats, but nothing of any consequence. 
Ordered all the prisoners' baggage put into the empty 
bread room, locked up and key given to the first lieu- 
tenant with orders to let none go into it without an offi- 
cer of the Constitution being present." 

"The prisoners orderly except some of the British 
officers of whom this ship's wardroom officers com- 
plained that they did not conduct themselves below like 
gentlemen, being in their language indecent, vulgar and 
abusive to each other." 

" Captain Stewart visited the Cyane in company with 
Captain Falcon who wished to see the wounded men, 
found them all doing well." 

" Another search among the Constitution's crew but 
little found. Found much clothing among the prison- 
ers. It appeared that after the ships had struck their 
colors that their men broke into the Spirit and Slop 
rooms and officers' apartments and pillaged all they 
could." 

" Landed prisoners. Another quarrel about articles 
stolen from British prisoners and another search." 

The day after the battle was spent in overhaul- 
ing and repairing the spars of the two prizes and 
in getting them ready for tlieir voyage home. 



208 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Captain Stewart decided to run down to tlie Cape 
Verde Islands in preference to the Madeiras to land 
liis prisoners, probably because there was less like- 
lihood of meeting a British squadron. He arrived 
at Port Praya on the 10th of March, and an Eng- 
lish brig was soon chartered to serve as a cartel. 
One hundred of the prisoners were put on board 
to get her ready for sea. Others were landed from 
the Levant during the next day and preparations 
were made for the transfer of their effects. The 
work was delayed by a very thick low-lying fog, 
which was destined to bring the Constitution nearer 
to capture than she had ever been, and likewise to 
facilitate her escape. 

At a few minutes past noon of the 12th, the 
upper sails of a large ship were discovered above 
the fog quite close in, and immediately afterwards 
two other large ships hove in sight, apparently 
standing for the port. It is said that these sails 
were first discovered by an English midshipman, 
who called to his captain to " look at the large ship 
in the offing." Lieutenant Shubrick, serving as 
first lieutenant of the Constitution, also looked, and 
at once reported the discovery to Captain Stewart, 
who was shaving in his cabin. He ordered the 
anchor up to go outside for a look at the stranger, 
but when the other sails were reported he sent 
word to cut the cable and to signal the Cyane and 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 209 

Levant to get under way. He states in his log 
that he suspected the ships to be part of the 
enemy's squadron, and deemed it most prudent to 
put to sea, as the English had hitherto paid little 
respect to neutral waters, especially o£ the coun- 
tries which had no navies. He was doubtless in- 
fluenced, too, by the decided unfriendliness of the 
Portuguese governor. Within fifteen minutes 
after the first alarm, the Constitution was standing 
out of the harbor under topsails, followed closely 
by her prizes. The Portuguese batteries opened 
fire on them, manned, it is said, by the English 
sailors who had been landed, but no damage was 
done. Preparations were made for meeting the 
strange ships, and additional sails were hoisted 
as rapidly as possible. As they cleared the en- 
trance close under East Point, they headed on the 
port tack to the eastward along the shore and 
passed within range of the nearest ship. The 
strangers, observing that they were trying to get 
away, tacked and made all sail in chase. Only 
the sails could be seen above the thick fog, and 
neither side could quite make out the other. Cap- 
tain Stewart supposed the new comers to be two 
British ships of the line and one frigate, and he 
immediately ordered the first cutter and gig to be 
cut loose from the stern. The English prisoners 
soon recognized them to be the squadron of Sir 



210 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

George Ralph Collier, two 50-gun frigates, Lean- 
cler and Newcastle, built expressly to outclass the 
American frigates, and the Acasta of 40 guns. 

These ships had left the coast of North America 
in pursuit of the Constitution shortly after her 
escape from Boston. It seems that the Leander 
met the Newcastle and Acasta in Cape Cod Bay 
on the 24th of December. Captain Collier got hold 
of a story that the Constitution had gone to sea to 
meet the President and the Congress. As amus- 
ingly stated by an English historian, this story, 
" whether derived from fishermen, cattle dealers, or 
any other of the cunning New England folk, was 
credited by Sir George Collier," and he hurried 
all three ships to sea in pursuit of the " Constitution 
and the two other heavy frigates." He cruised in 
the Western Islands, and was fooled again by an- 
other cunning Yankee, who pretended to take his 
ships for the very squadron he was in search of. 
The conviction that he would find three American 
frigates together may have affected his eyesight at 
Port Praya. At any rate it explains his extreme 
caution and consequent bungling of the chase which 
followed. 

The chase became very exciting, as the two 
larger vessels held their own on the lee quarter of 
the Constitution, and the Acasta was gradually 
making to windward of her. The Cyane was in 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 211 

great clanger. She dropped astern and to leeward 
so rapidly that a little after one o'clock Stewart 
signaled lier to tack to the northward and west- 
ward. He expected this to detach one of the 
enemy's ships in pursuit, but it did not. They kept 
steadily on, and the Cyane soon disappeared. The 
Levant also lost distance, and an hour later she 
too was ordered to tack. The enemy had crept 



^^WnoJ: 





■-"^ . t:"----"""".'.^---- BbitVs'h FLtt 

-.•-.■-'---■ — ^J---" '•'" •'•>'• 



ESCAPE OF THE CONSTITUTION FROM BRITISH FLEET AT PORT 

PRAYA. 



up close enough to fire a number of broadsides at 
the Constitution, the shot falling short, but it was 
dangerous work. The least mistake or accident 
meant the loss of the ship. As Stewart says in his 
log, " It became necessary to separate from the 
Levant or to risk being brought into action to 
cover her." " The whole of the enemy's squadron 
tacked in pursuit of the Levant and gave over the 
pursuit of this ship." " This sacrifice of the Levant 
became necessary for the preservation of the Con- 



212 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

stitution." The squadron quickly disappeared, to 
the great grief of the English prisoners, and our 
frigate was left free to pursue her course for home. 
In explanation of the movements of the English 
ships we must take into consideration Captain 
Collier's belief that he had three strong frigates to 
deal with. The fog effectually hid the guns on both 
sides. A few minutes' clear weather would have 
shown him the true character of his opponents, and 
the Constitution would probably have ended her 
days in England. When the Cyane tacked, he did 
not wish to weaken his fleet against the two remain- 
ing ships ; and when the Levant also went about 
he signaled the Acasta, the only ship able to wea- 
ther the Constitution, to tack in pursuit. This left 
two ships in chase of one, and one ship in chase of 
the two which had tacked to the westward. The 
Leander's first lieutenant then suggested that if the 
two ships which had stood away from the fleet were 
really frigates, they would be more than a match 
for the Acasta, and Captain Collier thereupon 
determined to go about with his other two ships. 
Although subsequent discoveries made the English 
officers feel very sore over this chase, the judg- 
ment of the commanding officer had an element 
of soundness in it. He expected to find two heavy 
American frigates in Port Praya, where they would 
fall an easy prey to his squadron, if kept together. 
Divided, they were not certain of getting anything. 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 213 

The Constitution crossed the Atlantic and an- 
chored in Maranham on April 2 ; then, after one 
more row over stolen articles, the remaining pris- 
oners were landed. Stewart next hove to off the 
harbor of San Juan, Porto Rico, to ascertain the 
condition of national affairs, and received positive 
information from the governor that the treaty of 
peace had been ratified. He arrived in New York 
and anchored abreast of the Battery on the after- 
noon of May 15, 1815, thus ending another lucky 
cruise for " Old Ironsides." The fate of her prizes 
was soon learned. The Cyane reached New York 
in April. Lieutenant Hoffman's anxiety during 
his passage of four weeks must have been very 
great. He lost sight of all the ships within half an 
hour after tacking in obedience to Captain Stew- 
art's signal. About an hour afterwards, he heard 
a heavy cannonading which continued for a long 
time, but as there was nothing to be gained by his 
going back to the assistance of the Constitution, he 
shaped his course for the United States. 

The Levant, on the other hand, had fared badly. 
After tacking, she was so close pressed by the Bri^ 
ish squadron that Lieutenant Ballard put back into 
Port Praya. The neutrality of the harbor, as 
Captain Stewart had supposed, afforded no protec- 
tion whatever. The Newcastle and Acasta opened 
fire on her, notwithstanding the fact that the flag 



214 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

was hauled down. Lieutenant Ballard ordered his 
men to lie down on the deck, and fortunately not 
one of them was hurt. The shot did some damage 
in the town, however, and Captain Collier had to 
pacify the governor. When an English lieutenant 
came over the side to take possession of the Levant, 
he supposed she was the American sloop Hornet, 
and the only satisfaction poor Ballard got out of 
tlie adventure was in disabusing his mind of the 
error. 

The treaty of peace was ratified on February 
17, and hostilities were to cease upon ratification, 
so that Stewart's capture came three days after 
the war was over. Thirty days were allowed for 
the cessation of hostilities in the eastern part of the 
Atlantic, and all prizes taken after that were to 
be surrendered. The Cyane was therefore retained 
in our service. The principle upon which Captain 
Stewart had proceeded in continuing offensive 
operations after he knew that peace was assured 
seems to have been considered sound at that time. 
It was followed by the British and Americans 
alike, although it seems now to have led to a need- 
less loss of life. 

It is curious that impressment, the chief griev- 
ance of the war, was not mentioned in the treaty. 
England has never formally given up the right she 
claimed at that time, but it has never since been 



CAPTURE OF THE CYANE AND LEVANT 215 

exercised against the United States, and it seems 
doubtful if it will ever be attempted again. Our 
Navy has acquired a very different footing among 
the nations of the earth, and the removal of sailors 
from our ships, even by a belligerent, would doubt- 
less be regarded as a cause erf war. 

The success of the War of 1812 cannot be 
credited to one frigate, yet the Constitution ab- 
sorbed the largest amount of attention, as she did 
by far the greatest damage to British armed ships 
upon the sea. The guns captured by her amounted 
to more than half the number taken from all the 
British ocean cruisers. In all her subsequent 
cruising, she became an object of interest to the 
English people, as she had already acquired the 
respect of British officers. Captain Dacres visited 
her in Malta fully a generation after his defeat. 
Lieutenant Chads's visit in China has already been 
mentioned. 



CHAPTER XII 

CRUISES AND INCIDENTS SUBSEQUENT TO THE 
WAR OF 1812 

The trouble with Algiers broke out afresh dur- 
ing the war, while we were unable to protect our 
merchant-shipping in the Mediterranean ; but in 
1815 we found ourselves in a position to end the 
whole system of peace tribute, as that with Tunis 
and Tripoli had been broken up ten years before. 
Two squadrons were fitted out, one of ten ships at 
New York under Decatur, who sailed five days 
after the Constitution arrived home, and the other 
under Bainbridge from Boston six weeks later. 
Our old frigate was in need of extensive repairs, 
and she could not therefore be prepared for sea in 
time to join either of these squadrons. Her period 
of enforced idleness lasted about six years, and in 
1821 we find her at Boston ready for another cruise. 
She sailed on May 13, under command of Captain 
Jacob Jones for service as flagship of the Mediter- 
ranean squadron, and made the voyage to Gibraltar 
in the short time of twenty-one days. The cruise 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 217 

was uneventful, and she did not even revisit the 
scene of her old triumph, but made only a few ports 
between Gibraltar and Smyrna. Port Mahone 
was the rendezvous where she spent much time. It 
was during this cruise, in 1822, that Lord Byron 
paid her a visit. He is said to have remarked while 
on board that he " would rather have a nod from 
an American than a snuff-box from an emperor." 

In the fall of 1823, the Constitution was back in 
Boston for a new crew, but did not refit until three 
years later, when, under the command of Captain 
Thomas Macdonough, she once more sailed for the 
Mediterranean station to join the squadron of Com- 
modore John Rodgers. This cruise lasted nearly 
four years under several commanders. Captain 
Macdonough kept her only a year, and then turned 
her over to Captain Daniel T. Patterson, whose 
command lasted until she returned to the United 
States. He was relieved, however, for a short 
interval during the winter of 1825-26 by Elia A. 
F. Yallette and George C. Read. During this 
cruise, her duty seems to have been entirely that of 
a sentry standing guard over American shipping 
and affording visible evidence of the power behind 
the flag. One incident is interesting in connection 
with the Greek Revolution. Provisions had been 
sent to Dr. Howe for distribution to the starving 
population. Part of the cargo was stolen by Greek 



218 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

brigands, and the Constitution was summoned to 
aid in its recovery. Captain Patterson responded 
promptly, and succeeded in forcing the captain of 
the gang to restore everything. The ship left the 
station in the summer of 1828, and went out of 
commission at the Boston Navy Yard on July 19. 

The period extending from the close of the War 
of 1812 to the Mexican War was one of compara- 
tive monotony for the Navy, although its duties in 
keeping down the pirates and giving security to 
foreign trade were very necessary. Many of the 
old ships were broken up as new ones were added, 
and by the middle of the century only three of the 
old vessels remained in the service. Curiously 
enough, they were the United States, the Constitu- 
tion, and the Constellation, the first three ships of 
the Navy to be launched. Several line-of-battle- 
ships and a few steamers had been built. 
** Between the years 1828 and 1830, " Old Iron- 
sides" was surveyed and reported unseaworthy. 
Her frames were generally sound, but the outside 
planking, the ceiling in the hold, and the decks 
were badly decayed. The estimated cost of rejDairs 
exceeded the total original cost of building, and 
the Secretary of the Navy decided, upon the recom- 
mendation of the Naval Commissioners, to have 
her broken up or sold. This might have passed 
without serious opposition had not her proverbial 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 219 

good luck once more intervened to save her. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, who was a student at the Dane 
Law School and only just past his majority, saw in 
a newspaper oije morning that the Constitution was 
to be destroyed by order of the Navy Department. 
He seized a pen and dashed off on a scrap of paper 
these stanzas : — 

" Ay, tear her tattered ensign down ' 

Long has it waved on high, 
And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky ; 
Beneath it rung the battle shout. 

And burst the cannon's roar ; — 
The meteor of the ocean air 

Shall sweep the clouds no more. 

" Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, 

Where knelt the vanquished foe, 
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood, 

And waves were white below, 
No more shall feel the victor's tread, 

Or know the conquered knee ; — 
The harpies of the shore shall pluck 

The eagle of the sea ! 

" Oh better that her shattered hulk 

Should sink beneath the wave ; 
Her thunders shook the mighty deep, 

And there should be her grave ; 
Nail to the mast her holy flag. 

Set every threadbare sail. 
And give her to the god of storms, 

The liahtning and the gale ! " 



220 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

This poem, with the title " Old Ironsides," was 
first published in the "Boston Advertiser," and was 
quickly copied in all the newspapers of the country. 
It was even printed on handbills and circulated on 
the streets of Washington. The public sentiment 
aroused was irresistible. The Navy Department's 
order was immediately revoked. Congress appro- 
priated the necessary money to rebuild her, practi- 
cally without alteration of the original model. \ On 
June 24, 1833, she was placed in the new dry dock 
just completed at the Boston Navy Yard, and was 
the first vessel to enter the dock. Captain Hull 
once more took command of her and directed the 
docking in the presence of Vice President Van 
Buren and a large number of people. This was 
the first time in her career that a careful exam- 
ination could be made of the keel. It was found 
hogged and about two and a half feet out of line, 
the result in part of sticking fast on the ways 
when launching, and doubtless also of carrying 
too heavy a battery. The keel was straightened, 
and she was thus restored to the lines of Mr. Hum- 
phreys's model, having been so completely rebuilt 
under the superintendence of Josiah Barker that 
she became virtually a new ship. 

No sooner had the restoration been completed 
than she was plunged once more into a discussion 
more bitter by far than the first. There had been 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 221 

no difference of opinion about breaking her up, 
but there was a pronounced difference of opinion on 
the propriety of Andrew Jackson as a figurehead. 
Captain Jesse D. Elliott had been ordered to com- 
mand the Boston Navy Yard in the spring of 
1833, and he arrived in time to witness the recep- 
tion of Andrew Jackson. Seeing the enthusiasm 
for the President and the cordiality with which he 
was met by the Boston people, he conceived the 
notion of gratifying them by replacing the figure- 
head of their favorite ship with the head of Jack- 
son. The first figurehead, a statue of Hercules, 
had been struck by a shot before Tripoli. It was 
succeeded by a figure of Neptune, and then by a 
plain billet, which Captain Elliott proposed to 
remove. He evidently intended to spring this 
agreeable surprise on the good people of the city, 
and he quietly requested official approval of the 
project. The Navy Department readily granted 
the necessary permission, and the work was com- 
mitted to Mr. L. S. Beecher, a skillful carver of 
wood. 

The news soon spread, and the previous storm 
was as nothing compared with the gale that now 
swept over the good city of Boston. Captain 
Elliott must have suffered a rude awakening when 
he found himself threatened with a coat of tar and 
feathers. The abuse he endured was something 



222 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

almost beyond imagination. Threats and vituper- 
ation circulated freely in newspapers. Handbills 
and anonymous letters were sent directly to the 
chief offender. The matter became a political 
question, and the Whigs were most offensive in 
their opposition. A more disgraceful exhibition 
of spleen has seldom occurred in our history. The 
expediency of putting the figure of a living Presi- 
dent upon one of our ships seems doubtful, and the 
people of Boston had a certain element of right in 
their objection. Then, too, Jackson had made his 
name as a soldier, and there did not seem to be 
any good reason why he should adorn a ship. He 
did not fit the case. If any living man was to be 
selected, a naval hero would have been far more 
appropriate, and the question was asked by many 
people outside of New England, " Why associate 
Jackson so intimately with a ship which holds the 
memories of our old sailors?" He was represented 
in dress suit, bareheaded, with a large cloak over 
his shoulders. His right hand was extended hold- 
ing a roll of manuscript, and his left hand was 
pushed into the breast of his waistcoat. There 
was a precedent in the case of the frigate John 
Adams, which not only carried a statue of Mr. 
Adams, but was also named for him while he was 
the chief magistrate. Nevertheless, the precedent 
was bad, and Captain Elliott, who was a Jacksonian 




o 

H 
P 
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1—1 

H 

a: 

O 

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a 

O 

w 
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Ed 

O 
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fa 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 223 

Democrat, was probably more or less influenced by 
party considerations. His biographer writes that 
he wished to please the people of the West and 
to increase their interest in the Navy by placing 
their hero upon the favorite ship of the East. His 
success was questionable, as he was literally per- 
secuted out of the Navy Yard. A more courteous 
and reasonable opposition would doubtless have led 
to the abandonment of the project, as the Naval 
Commissioners had already given him some lati- 
tude in the matter, but he would not yield in the 
face of threats and abuse. Mr. Beecher was ap- 
proached by representative citizens who offered a 
considerable sum for permission to carry the half 
completed image away, but Captain Elliott at once 
removed it under guard to the Navy Yard. There 
were rumors of an attempt to take it away by 
force, and arms were dealt out to the sailors for 
the purpose of repelling an invasion. It was fin- 
ished in the Yard and placed on board the ship in 
the late spring of 1834. She was moored between 
two line-of-battle-ships for safety, and a marine 
guard was stationed in plain view of the bow ; but 
in spite of all precautions the daylight of July 3 
disclosed a sadly mutilated figurehead. Captain 
Elliott immediately reported the fact to the Sec- 
retary of the Navy and instituted an investiga- 
tion, but nothing came of it. While scores of men 



224 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

belonging to the opposition party in Boston, New 
York, and Philadelphia knew all about the busi- 
ness, and while the perpetrator was exhibiting the 
head before various private audiences, the govern- 
ment was powerless. No one came forward with 
accusation or evidence. Six months or more 
elapsed before Samuel W. Dewey voluntarily sur- 
rendered the head to the Secretary of the Navy. 
His subsequent immunity from punishment was 
probably due to influential political connections 
and to a secret satisfaction, even in Washington, 
over the insult to Jackson. His father had been 
at one time in command of Fort Independence, 
and his uncle was postmaster of New York. 

The inception of the outrage, for such it was, 
dates from a bantering conversation which took 
place in the counting-house of Henry and William 
Lincoln. Mr. Dewey, who possessed an adventu- 
rous, dare-devil spirit, was captain of one of their 
ships, and had recently returned from the West 
Indies. When waiting for a ship he was in the 
habit of going into his employer's office every day, 
and one morning Mr. William Lincoln, knowing 
him to be a harum-scarum fellow, said to him 
jokingly, without much thought that the matter 
would ever go any further, " I would give a hun- 
dred dollars to see that figurehead cut off." Some 
weeks passed and the subject was not again alluded 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 225 

to, when suddenly the whole town was electrified 
one morning by the news that the figurehead was 
gone. Mr. Lincoln heard of it on his way to the 
office, and he found Dewey waiting at the door. 
The head was in his mother's house on Pearl 
street, hidden within a large sea-chest. 

Dewey had watched his opportunity, and had 
taken advantage of a thunder-storm on the night 
of July 2. Provided with a saw, two gimlets and 
a piece of light rope, he crossed the Charles River 
in a small boat and pulled in alongside of the In- 
dependence. He worked his way around this ship, 
clinging to her sides until he reached the gang- 
way of the Constitution, where he climbed up one 
of the man-ropes. It was raining hard, and the 
night was pitch dark, so that he crept out under 
the bowsprit and went to work without much risk 
of discovery. One gimlet was screwed into each 
side of the head, and the line, passed over the bow- 
sprit, was made fast to both of them. Lying on 
his back directly under the figure, he was able to use 
his saw whenever the noise of the thunder and rain 
filled the ears of the sentry near by. The first cut 
struck a bolt, and he had to begin a new cut 
through the chin of the figure ; but he finally suc- 
ceeded in the decapitation and in getting the head 
down into the boat. Here a new difficulty con- 
fronted him, as the boat was nearly full of water 



226 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

from one of the scuppers of the ship. The pas- 
sage back to Boston was almost as dangerous as 
the adventure on the Constitution, but he suc- 
ceeded in crossing. He carried his trophy, hidden 
in a coffee-sack, through the streets of the city 
without meeting a soul. 

This whole affair seems to have been treated as 
a huge joke, and Dewey became a hero among the 
knowing ones. A club was formed and various 
eentlemen assembled at a dinner at which the head 

o 

formed the centrepiece. When the members met 
in the street they were in the habit of drawing 
their hands across their chins by way of indicat- 
ing their enjoyment of Dewey's cut. The head 
was subsequently carried in triumph to Washing- 
ton, by way of New York and Philadelphia, and 
the adventurous captain became the source of much 
entertainment. His impudence seemed to have 
had no limit, for he contemplated carrying the 
President his own head, and was restrained only 
by Mr. Jackson's illness. 

Captain Elliott did not acknowledge defeat in 
the loss of his figurehead, but quietly provided a 
canvas cover for the stump and bided his time. 
The Constitution was fitted for sea during the 
winter, and she sailed for New York early in March 
of 1835, with Elliott in command. She did not 
sret out without threats of a combination to man 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 227 

the guns at the Narrows and stop her if the remains 
of the fio-urehead were not removed, but her com- 
mander, by way of retaliation, simply had a five- 
striped flag painted on the canvas as a suggestion 
of New England's disloyalty. While in New York 
the figurehead was successfully repaired by Mr. 
Beecher. It remained on her for more than forty 
years, and is now at the Naval Academy. Tlie in- 
cident of the figurehead was not taken very seri- 
ously at the time, and we are hardly justified in 
drawing a moral from it. Notwithstanding the 
insult to Jackson, the leaven of federalism was 
slowly converting the old colonies into one nation, 
which would probably resent any such disrespect 
to the President in our day. 

As a result of experience during the short 
voyage from Boston, Commodore Elliott reported 
that the repairs and straightening of the keel had 
improved the ship. He wrote, " There is not a 
more weatherly, finer and faster ship in the ser- 
vice." Nevertheless, she labored so heavily during 
the voyage to France as to part some of her chain 
plates and to pitch one of the 24-pounders out 
through a forecastle port. The captain's corre- 
spondence contains comments on the weakness of 
the channels and the general lack of stability. He 
says in one place that there is danger of losing the 
masts overboard. She sailed from New York for 




228 THE FRIQATE CONSTITUTION 

France on March 16 with orders to bring home 
Mr. Livingston and his family, and arrived at 
Havre on April 10. Affairs in France were in an 
unsettled state, owing to the indemnity question. 
The French chamber had appropriated money to 
pay the indemnity, on condition that the United 
States must first explain certain offensive clauses 
in the message to Congress. It was thought best 
to recall the minister, and soon after the Constitu- 
tion arrived he went on board. She crossed to 
Plymouth, England, early in May and arrived in 
New York on June 22. 

Captain Elliott was then ordered to hoist his 
flag as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean 
squadron, and he got away on August 19, 1835. 
The cruise lasted three years and was uneventful. 
General Cass and his family were carried from 
Marseilles to Constantinople, and a visit to Malta 
in the spring of 1836 was made the occasion of 
many expressions of good will on the part of the 
English officers. Washington's birthday was cele- 
brated very handsomely by dressing ship and firing 
a national salute from every one of the fourteen 
British vessels in the harbor. The Constitution 
returned the salute. On shore the officers were 
received most cordially, and the old feeling of ani- 
mosity seems to have died out entirely. Cer- 
tainly nothing was left undone to make the Amer- 
icans feel at home. 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 229 

Old Ironsides returned during the summer of 
1838, arriving in Hampton Roads on August 1, 
and she went up to Norfolk the next day. The 
anchor was no sooner down than the men began 
clamoring for their discharges, as all of them were 
overtime. Two hundred demanded their release 
from service at once, and they were promptly put 
on shore. The cruise proved an unfortunate one 
for Captain Elliott, as he was arraigned on various 
charges of severity and harshness in discipline, and 
on one charge of encumbering the berth-deck of 
the Constitution with jackasses for the improve- 
ment of the breed in the United States. He was 
found guilty, and was suspended for four years. 
This may throw some light on his difficulties at 
the Boston Navy Yard, where no doubt an unfortu- 
nate lack of tact contributed largely to the contro- 
versy over the figurehead. 

The ship was recommissioned at the Norfolk 
Navy Yard on March 1, 1839, under the command 
of Captain Daniel Turner. Six weeks later she 
went to New York, and sailed on May 20 for the 
South Pacific station as Commodore Alexander 
Claxton's flagship. Her cruising-ground for two 
years extended along the west coast of South 
America. Commodore Claxton died on board on 
March 7, 1841, and Captain Turner succeeded to 
the chief command until his ship returned to 



230 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

Norfolk in tke fall of the same year. During this 
commission the report on her qualities gives us a 
vivid picture of the wooden frigate at sea. " On 
her passage around Cape Horn she labored beyond 
everything I had ever witnessed, and gave me a 
lively idea of what sailors understand by ' working 
like a basket.' " 

The next cruise was a very short one under Cap- 
tain Foxhall A. Parker, who commanded her from 
June 22, 1842, to February 16, 1843. For three 
months she was flagship of Commodore Charles 
Stewart, her old commander, on the home squad- 
ron, and then she was laid up in Norfolk once 
more. On March 26, 1844, she went into com- 
mission for a special cruise to the China seas under 
Captain John Percival, and sailed from Hampton 
Roads for New York on April 17. At the latter 
place she took on board Mr. Wise for transporta- 
tion to Rio Janeiro, as minister to Brazil, and de- 
parted on her long cruise towards the end of May. 
It would be interesting to follow her from port to 
port on this voyage completely around the globe, 
but there is no special event to distinguish one 
place from another, and the story would be largely 
a journal of daily happenings. Captain Percival, 
her commander, called " Mad Jack " in the Navy, 
bad led an eventful life at sea. As a boy of 
seventeen before the mast he had been impressed 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 231 

by the English from an American merchant-ship. 
His intelligence and energy had earned for him 
promotion in his enforced service, and tradition 
says that he was captain of the fore top in Nelson's 
flagship at Trafalgar. The Constitution sailed from 
Rio Janeiro early in September, passed around the 
Cape of Good Hope, and made Singapore in Feb- 
ruary, 1845. There was much sickness on board, 
and she remained in port between five and six 
weeks. The British fleet, under command of Com- 
modore Chads, proffered medical services and 
manifested the most friendly feeling towards the 
Americans. As related in connection with the 
Java, the commodore went on board to offer aid 
and to see the old ship where he had been a pris- 
oner thirty-two years before. During the spring 
and summer of 1845, the ship proceeded leisurely 
to Canton River, then to Manila Bay, and late in 
September to Honolulu. Early in December she 
sailed for home by way of the Mexican coast and 
Cape Horn. The voyages from port to port were 
very long ; from Manila to Honolulu, fifty-seven 
days ; Mazatlan to Rio Janeiro, ninety-seven days ; 
and from Rio Janeiro to Boston, sixty-one days. 
She went out of commission at the Boston Navy 
Yard on October 5, 1848, after having sailed dur- 
ing the cruise 52,279 miles in 495 days at sea. 
Captain Percival reported her as a fine ship, but 



232 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

hard on her cables, and recommended that her 
fore and mainmasts be placed three fourths of 
their diameter further aft, also that all ballast be 
dispensed with. 

The stories of two incidents of this cruise have 
come down to us as pleasant reminders of the spirit 
and generosity of Jack Tar in the old Navy. On 
August 13, 1845, at Canton, Captain Percival sum- 
moned his men to the quarter-deck and told them 
the particulars of the suffering and loss caused 
by the great fire in Pittsburg. Every officer and 
man in the crew subscribed something towards the 
relief of the sufferers, and the sum of f 1950 was 
sent home by a draft on Boston as a token of sym- 
pathy. The distance and time were much greater 
then than now. 

During the voyage from Macao to Manila, they 
sighted a squadron of six ships, and as it was cus- 
tomary to regard all strangers in that part of the 
world with suspicion, they immediately cleared for 
action. Soon the wind died out entirely, and one 
of the ships, a steamer flying the British flag, was 
seen to approach. A boat was lowered, and some 
officers came on board with the information that 
the squadron was that of Sir Thomas Cochrane, 
and that they had been down to the islands for 
seven months. They were short of grog, water, 
and bread, and they wished to beg a week's supply 




Q 

H 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 233 

from the Constitution. The crew had a lively 
time securing the guns and hiding the evidences of 
their extreme readiness to fight. While the pro- 
visions were hoisted out the British officers were 
taken down into the ward-room and feasted. They 
departed with lightened hearts, drinking the toast, 
" The good Old Ironsides, always the first to pre- 
pare for her friends or foes." 

After two years' idleness, she was again com- 
missioned under the command of Captain John 
Gwynn, and sailed for the Mediterranean squadron 
in December, 1848, to become the flagship of Com- 
modore W. C. Bolton. Her cruising was princi- 
pally on the coast of Italy. During the early part 
of 1849, she carried Consul-General D. S. Mc- 
Cauley and his family from Tripoli to Alexan- 
dria. It was during this voyage that a son was 
born on board to Mrs. McCauley. He received 
the name Constitution Stewart in honor of the old 
ship and her former commander. 

On September 4 Captain Gwynn died, and 
was succeeded in command shortly afterwards by 
Captain Thomas A. Conover. The cruise ended 
in New York, where the ship went out of commis- 
sion on January 11, 1851. Two reports on her 
behavior at sea contain the words, " Excellent, 
very weatherly, works quick, rolls deep, but easy ; 
stands up well under canvas, but not very dry in 



234 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION. 

a sea way." " Works within 11 points of the 
wind ; steers, works, sails, scuds and lies to well ; 
rolls deep and easy, and sailing close hauled has 
beaten everything sailed with." 

A new commission dates from December 22, 
1852, with Captain John Rudd in command. She 
sailed in the following March to join the Mediter- 
ranean squadron for the last time, as flagship of 
Commodore Isaac Mayo. Her cruising days were 
numbered, as already the steam propeller was 
beginning to make itself felt in the Navy. She 
carried over Mr. Nicholson as consul to Tunis, and 
then proceeded to the west coast of Africa to aid 
in breaking up the slave trade. She was in and 
out of port incessantly between the Cape Verd 
Islands and St. Helena for two years, but captured 
only one vessel, the American schooner H. N. 
Gambrill. On June 14, 1855, she went out of 
commission at Portsmouth, N. H., never to be used 
again in really active service. 

In 1860, the Navy Department decided to trans- 
fer her to the Naval Academy for the use of the 
midshipmen, and she was therefore commissioned 
on the 1st of August under Lieutenant-Commander 
David D. Porter. He kept her only one month, 
and then left her safely moored at Annapolis. The 
outbreak of the Civil War seemed to render her 
position very unsafe. The frigate United States 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 235 

had been seized at Norfolk, and there were threats 
of a combination at Annapolis to destroy the Con- 
stitution and other government property. So pro- 
nounced was the evidence of hostility on shore that 
the superintendent of the Naval Academy ordered 
Lieutenant - Commander George W. Rodger s to 
move her out into the Roads on the morning of 
April 21, 1861. The steamer Maryland arrived 
opportunely from Havre de Grace with a regiment 
of Massachusetts volunteers under command of 
Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler. Three 
companies were immediately placed on board to 
assist in getting her out. All moorings were 
slipped excepting the starboard bower anchor, and 
she was taken in tow by the Maryland. Unfortu- 
nately she went aground on Greenbury's Point, and 
the Maryland in backing went hard aground on the 
opposite side of the channel. The tide was run- 
ning out rapidly, and about midnight word came 
that the channel outside would probably be ob- 
structed during the night. This led to a deter- 
mined effort to pull the Constitution off by means 
of hedging. With the first run of the kedge she 
reached deep water and, while bearing on the second 
kedge, a heavy squall drove her into the mud again. 
The appearance of several vessels in the offing 
hurried the crew to their quarters with preparations 
to repel an attack, but the strangers turned out to 



236 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

be the steamer Boston with New York troops, and 
a tug from Havre de Grace. The Constitution 
was soon towed out into deep water. On the 26th, 
she left her anchorage in tow of the R. R. Cuyler, 
with the steamer Harriet Lane in company, and 
three days later was safe at the New York Navy 
Yard. The Naval Academy was moved to New- 
port soon after, and she was taken there for ser- 
vice as a training and practice ship. 

In August, 1865, she was towed out of New- 
port for Annapolis, under command of Lieutenant- 
Commander P. C. Johnson, but she soon ran away 
from her tug and made the voyage under sail alone. 
She exhibited a liveliness equal to anything in her 
palmiest days, and left a record for a few hours of 
thirteen and a half knots. 

From this time until 1871, her commanding 
officers were placed on board mainly as care-takers. 
Lieutenant-Commander (now Admiral) George 
Dewey had her from November 5, 1867, to August 
1, 1870. 

Her period of usefulness had practically passed 
away at the time of her last cruise, and the pro- 
gress in the art of ship-building during the Civil 
War converted her into an antiquity ; endeared to 
the American people, to be sure, but still a relic 
of the past. In 1871 she was taken to the Phila- 
delphia Navy Yard too far gone to be trusted 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 237 

under sail at sea. Another crisis like that of 1828 
had overtaken her. She lay in ordinary for a 
short time, until it was finally decided to rebuild 
her by replacing all decayed timbers and planking. 
At one time there was a suggestion of putting ma- 
chinery into her, but f ortmiately the plan was given 
up. Of no service as a steamer, she would have 
been ruined as a memorial of the old sailing navy. 
While the work of rebuilding was in progress, 
the Navy Yard was moved from Philadelphia to 
League Island, and the contract to complete her 
was given to Wood, Dialogue and Company. The 
effort to have her fitted up as an interesting fea- 
ture of the Centennial Exhibition failed, and she 
was not ready until early in 1877. Steam-heating 
apparatus was placed on board, and care was 
taken to give her modern appliances, so far as pos- 
sible. 

She was placed in commission at League Island 
in July, 1877. The command fell to four captains 
in rapid succession before she left the Navy Yard, 
and she was not employed until an act of Congress 
authorized the President to supply public trans- 
portation for goods sent by our citizens to the 
Universal Exposition at Paris in 1878. Captain 
O. C. Badger took command of her in January of 
that year, and a number of changes were made at 
once to stow as much freight as possible in the 



238 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

hold. She took the cargo on board at the foot of 
Walnut Street, Philadelphia, and sailed from 
Delaware Breakwater on March 4. 

The passage across proved to be an anxious one, 
as the repairs did not turn out well, and the work- 
ing of her timbers under sail developed a number 
of leaks. She reached Havre early in April and 
lay there nine months waiting to carry back her 
cargo. Two incidents occurred on the return voy- 
age to render it memorable as an unhappy one. She 
sailed from Havre by daylight on January 16, 
and ran aground off Ballard's Point near Swanage 
in the middle of the following night. It is reported 
that an unknown current set her on the English 
coast, which was supposed to be twenty-seven miles 
away when she struck. Every effort was made to 
get her off, and the united pull of five tugs finally 
succeeded in moving her into deep water. The 
officers of the British navy were most friendly in 
the emergency, even sending a battle-ship to assist. 
She was docked at the Navy Yard, Portsmouth, 
and soon repaired, as the damage proved to be 
slight. Captain Badger got to sea once more on 
January 30, but fourteen days later the rudder 
head was twisted off in a gale of wind. There was 
nothing to do but run before it, and she was headed 
for Lisbon, which she reached in five days. Again 
she had to go into a government dock, this time 



AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 239 

for a much longer period. On April 11, she sailed 
for home, and arrived in New York on May 24. 

The Navy Department now ordered her into 
service as a training ship for apprentice boys. 
After a voyage to Philadelphia and return the 
command was turned over to Captain F. H. Baker, 
who kept her only a few weeks. Captain O. F. 
Stanton took command in October, 1879, and dur- 
ing the next two years cruised from the West Indies 
as far north as Halifax. She was taken south dur- 
ing the winter and north during the summer season 
for the purpose of working the ship under sail as 
much as possible. In June, 1881, Captain Stanton 
surrendered the command to Commander E. U. 
Shepard, and six months later the ship went out of 
commission at the New York Navy Yard. This 
closed her long career at sea. She lay at New 
York for two years, and was then towed to Ports- 
mouth, N. H., for use as a receiving ship. 

When the hundredth anniversary of her launch 
approached, the Secretary of the Navy ordered her 
back to her birthplace, and she arrived at the 
Boston Navy Yard on September 21, 1897, in tow 
of the tug Leyden, with Commander S. W. Very 
and a crew of forty-five men on board. The North 
Atlantic Fleet, consisting of the New York, Brook- 
lyn, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Texas, anchored in 
the harbor to assist in the celebration. There were 



240 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

speeches in the Old South Meetmg-House by the 
Governor of Massachusetts, the Mayor of Boston, 
the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and the 
junior Senator from the State, on October 21. The 
sailors and marines were subsequently reviewed in 
the Navy Yard, and Old Iionsides formed the 
central figure of a great reception in her honor. 

The old craft now lies housed over and tenant- 
less, except for the crowd of memories which people 
her decks. She has reached another stage in her 
existence demanding the assistance of every lover 
of his country to secure for her a long lease of life. 
By an act of Congress approved February 14, 
1900, the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to 
restore her to the same condition as regards her 
hull and rigging as she was when in active service ; 
provided that a sufficient sum of money to com- 
plete the work shall be raised through the agency 
of the Massachusetts State Society of the United 
States Daughters of 1812. The amount required 
is estimated at 400,000 dollars, and the patriotic 
women having the business in charge will no doubt 
realize their hopes of seeing the old ship completely 
restored in course of a few years. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WHAT WE OWE TO THE CONSTITUTION 

It remains now to state more fully what our old 
frigate stands for in the long list of events which 
have shaped the character of the American republic. 
So far as mere materials can be the legitimate ob- 
ject of man's gratitude, she has certainly earned a 
lasting place in our affections. Her hull represents 
the homely toil of our ancestors, who had none of 
the aids of modern science in laying out and con- 
structing their ships. The axe alone served, as it 
had served in making their homes in the wilder- 
ness. Yet nothing better was ever constructed, 
when we take into consideration the conditions of 
naval warfare at the time. Only one other ship 
holds an equal place in our interest and means as 
much in the consolidation of our Union — the old 
Monitor. The two ships have certain points of 
resemblance and of difference. Both were depar- 
tures in type from what had gone before, and both 
wrought changes in the construction of war- vessels 
for the navies of Europe. One floats to-day as the 



242 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

most beautiful survivor of the old sailing period, 
and the other lies at the bottom of the sea but the 
crude beginning of the modern battle-ship. Both 
gained their victories over people of the same race 
and blood and the same maritime traditions. The 
Constitution went out from Boston in the face of 
tremendous odds, and the Monitor left New York 
as a forlorn hope. It is a strange coincidence that 
both should have sailed just before a change of 
orders could reach them. The most important 
effect of victory for both ships was a moral one ; in 
the first case, putting heart into the whole nation by 
inspiring them with the sense of union, and in the 
second, infusing courage and hope into the North, 
which was fighting for the Union. Washington 
took a deep interest in the construction of the Con- 
stitution, and he frequently inspected her sister 
ship at Philadelphia. Lincoln's favor secured a 
trial for the Monitor. One is almost tempted to 
see the work of Providence in this strange parallel. 
The Victory, Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, is well 
preserved, but she cannot express as much to Eng- 
land as the Constitution to us. The latter was the 
single champion of a young and struggling nation, 
and the former the leader of a powerful fleet in the 
crowning exj)loit of an old nation's long predom- 
inance upon the sea. 

The first important service of the Constitution 



WHAT WE OWE TO THE CONSTITUTION 243 

has been found in the blockade of Tripoli. As the 
flagship of a squadron which dealt a decisive blow 
at the system of piracy and tribute that had flour- 
ished for centuries, she deserves the gratitude of 
humanity. We have learned under what discour- 
aging circumstances Edward Preble carried her 
through that* most diflicult service. But we can 
never estimate at too high a value the education 
received upon her decks by the sailors who after- 
wards did most to promote the healthy growth of 
the Navy, and whose cool judgment and courage 
brought us to the successful ending of the second 
war with Great Britain. 

It is in this war that we have found the Consti- 
tution's great victories, and what was equally im- 
portant to us, her marvelous escapes. Three times 
she was victorious over British ships, and three 
times she escaped capture by British squadrons. 
Nothing finer is to be found in our Navy. The 
War of 1812 terminated the period of our depend- 
ence upon England. For a generation we had 
been simply a football between England and 
France, both holding us in scarcely veiled con- 
tempt, and our parties at home were lined up ac- 
cording to their sympathies with one nation or the 
other. There was an English jDarty and a French 
party. We had gained our independence, but not 
our faith in the Republic of the United States. 



244 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

The country was still colonial, witli the self-interest 
of localities too strongly marked for the develop- 
ment of a strong national sentiment. Our stand- 
ing abroad was low during this formative period, 
and we were practically petitioners to Europe. 

The character of a nation, like that of an indi- 
vidual, grows imperceptibly for long stretches, 
modified occasionally by some event that seems to 
work sudden and great changes. Yet it is seldom 
the event which forms character, but rather its reve- 
lation of the possibilities within. So twenty-three 
years had passed in party strife which was gradu- 
ally moulding the constitution into an instrument 
capable of governing a large population. Slowly, 
amid numberless humiliations and trials, the com- 
mon people of this country had been acquiring 
confidence in their union without knowing it. 
They were confused by the discussions of politicians 
and the clamoring of men with selfish interests. 
Some event, or blow, was needed to show them that 
they stood shoulder to shoulder against the outside. 
Such an event was supplied by the Constitution 
when she anchored in Boston harbor with news of 
the victory over the Guerriere. Reference has 
already been made to the joy with which she was 
hailed. The victory served the double purpose 
of bringing to the surface the real feeling of the 
New England people and of indicating our best 



WHAT WE OWE TO THE CONSTITUTION 245 

weapon in a war with Great Britain. There was 
no longer any talk of hauling up the frigates to 
keep them out of the clutches of the British. Even 
the Boston " Centinel," which had condemned the 
war unsparingly, heartily rejoiced in the achieve- 
men " which placed our gallant officers and hardy 
tars on the very pinnacle of the high hill of honor, 
and which established the necessity and utility of 
our navy." 

" This usefulness and honor must thunder in 
the ears of navy haters in high places. Give us a 
navy." This triumph gave a tone and character to 
more than the war. It gave a tone and character to 
the nation for all time. The " Centinel " said truly 
that a navy was necessary, for it was the Navy 
which obtained the only success that counted in the 
negotiations for the treaty of peace. The Consti- 
tution formed the most striking figure to this end. 
Of all the ships first authorized by Congress, she 
alone was in active commission at the close of the 
war. The President and Chesapeake had been 
captured. The Congress was dismantled, and the 
United States and Constellation were tightly shut 
in by the British blockade. The war was attended 
by failure on land. There was not a single cam- 
paign upon which we can look back with satisfac- 
tion, excepting that of Jackson, and that came too 
late. The whole management of the War Depart- 



246 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

ment was but too bitter a confirmation of Wash- 
ington's disbelief in the efficiency of militia. Our 
only cause for pride was in the success of a small 
navy which had come oif well in a number of hard- 
fought battles and had wrought great destruction 
to British commerce. Although the treaty of 
peace left us very much where we were before the 
war, it gave us standing before the world, and it 
secured for us complete freedom on the high seas. 
Impressment ceased from that time, and no nation 
has since attempted to control the commerce of the 
world by force. Such a consummation means 
much to the interests of peace and tranquillity 
among nations. In 1812 England was at the sum- 
mit of her sea power. It was not an empty boast 
when her poet wrote : — 

" The winds and seas are Britain's wide domain, 
And not a sail without permission spreads." 

A thousand sail manned by 150,000 officers and 
men stood ready to make this good. No nation 
could, by the nature of things, maintain such pre- 
ponderance, and we may well ponder over the fate 
of the world with one nation in undisputed control 
of the ocean highways. The United States offered 
then, and still offers, a sure guarantee against that 
domination, and Old Ironsides stood both as a 
warning and as a hope. Her first victory broke 



WHAT WE 9WE TO THE CONSTITUTION 247 

the illusion of invincibility which had begun to 
surround the British navy, and her second pulled 
the scales off the eyes of Europe. The English 
people did not recover their cheerfulness during 
the three years of the war, and when peace was de- 
clared they were still longing for some overwhelm- 
ing victory to wipe out their sense of shame. For 
nearly two centuries they had been all powerful. 
No European navy could make any head against 
them. When they wanted a French or a Spanish 
ship they simply went and took her, without much 
thought of discrepancy in crews or guns. Lord 
Dundonald tells the story of his first command, a 
small, badly constructed brig, armed with fourteen 
4-pounders. Although his crew numbered only 
fifty-four men, he boarded and captured in broad 
daylight a Spanish frigate carrying three hundred 
and nineteen men and thirty-two fair-sized guns. 

The superiority of our ships did not assuage the 
bitterness of defeat, and in spite of labored plans 
to show that we had every advantage and could not 
help winning, the lesson was valuable. There 
have never been any doubts of the courage and 
skill of the American sailors and their ability to 
take care of themselves since the British experi- 
ments of 1812. We fought for our freedom upon 
the ocean as we had fought for our independence 
upon the land a generation before, and it was fit- 



248 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

ting that the victory which gained us that freedom 
should be upon sea. Another fruit of the war was 
emancipation from European dictation. We es- 
tablished our right to remain neutral when we saw 
fit. In these later days we can pardon the fierce 
exultation of our ancestors over the Constitution's 
victories, even though we cannot feel proud of 
their behavior. The newspapers were filled with 
violent, untruthful articles against the British, and 
our historians were scarcely better. Until all of 
the actors in the war had passed away, it was as 
difficult to obtain a fair statement on either side of 
the water, as it is to-day to obtain both sides of the 
war of the Rebellion. 

Nevertheless, to profit by the lessons of victory, 
we must not lose sight of its true fruit in vain- 
glorious boasting over physical prowess. Many 
elements go toward success in war. The common- 
est of these is courage. There is hardly a people 
on the face of the globe that will not, with proper 
training and superior equipment, supply good sol- 
diers and sailors. Certainly, in the War of 1812 
there was no reason to expect any difference in the 
valor of the two contestants, and there was none. 
The English fought as bravely and as fairly as the 
Americans. The blood shed upon the decks of 
their captured frigates is proof of a dogged re- 
sistance which we must admire. As gallant old 



WHAT WE OWE TO THE CONSTITUTION 249 

Admiral Chads said in 1845, " It was Greek meet 
Greek, for we were of the same blood after all." 
The Americans put better ships under their men 
and trained them to their duties more carefully, for 
they had more at stake. The case is stated with- 
out bias by the French Admiral, Jurien de la 
Graviere, in his "Guerres Maritimes," from which 
the following quotation has been taken : " When 
the American Congress declared war on England 
in 1812, it seemed as if this unequal conflict would 
crush her navy in the act of being born ; instead 
it but fertilized the germ. It is only since that 
epoch that the United States has taken rank 
among the maritime powers. Some combats of 
frigates, corvettes, and brigs, insignificant without 
doubt as regards material results, sufficed to break 
the charms which protected the standard of St. 
George, and taught Europe what she should h-ave 
already learned from some of our combats, if the 
louder noise of our defeats had not drowned the 
glory, that the only invincibles upon the sea are 
good seamen and good artillerists. This war 
should be studied with unceasing diligence ; the 
pride of two peoples to whom naval affairs are too 
generally familiar has cleared all the details and 
laid bare all the episodes, and through the sneers 
which the victors should have spared, merely out 
of care for their own glory, at every step can be 



250 THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 

seen with more truth that there is only success for 
those who know how to prepare it." " The Amer- 
icans showed in the War of 1812 a great deal of 
skill and resolution. But if, as they have asserted, 
the chances had always been perfectly equal be- 
tween them and their adversaries, if they had only 
owed their triumphs to the intrepidity of Hull, 
Decatur and Bainbridge, there would be for us but 
little interest in recalling the struggle. We need 
not seek lessons in courage outside of our own his- 
tory. On the contrary, what is to be well consid- 
ered is that the ships of the United States con- 
stantly fought with the chances in their favor, and 
it is on this that the American government should 
found its true title to glory." " Nor was the skill 
of their gunners the only cause to which the Amer- 
icans owed their success. Their ships were faster ; 
the crews composed of chosen men manoeuvred 
with unanimity and precision ; their captains had 
that practical knowledge which is only to be ac- 
quired by long experience of the sea ; and it is 
not to be wondered at that the Constitution, when 
chased during three days by a squadron of five 
English frigates, succeeded in escaping by sur- 
passing them in manoeuvring and by availing 
herself of every ingenious resource and skillful 
expedient that maritime science could suggest." 
If to the above it be added that the American 



WHAT WE OWE TO THE CONSTITUTION 251 

ships were employed against an enormous navy in- 
toxicated with success and careless of preparation 
against its puny antagonist, we have the whole 
story of the maritime war of 1812 and the Consti- 
tution's claim to greatness. 

The period of the old frigate's triumphs is thus 
confined to twelve years, and we find her pursuing 
the ordinary duties of peace during the long life 
which followed. She took no part in the war with 
Mexico. She carried our flag with dignity and 
honor until our navy was made up of steamers. 
Her last cruise as a fighting-ship in the inglorious 
task of suppressing the slave trade connects her in 
a way with the Kebellion, whose success would 
have rendered her services vain. In these days, 
when machinery is fast replacing sails and man 
has become independent of wind and tide, our 
country can well afford to preserve the old ship as 
the home of departed glory. 



INDEX 



AcASTA, British frigate, 210. 

Action, preparation for, 17. 

Adams, Elijah, story of cap- 
ture by Guerri^re, 166, 167. 

Adams, frigate, built by public 
subscription, 33 ; at Gibraltar, 
75. 

Africa, British line-of-battle- 
ship, 146. 

Agent of Marine, report on navy 
in 1783, 25. 

Alexis, Lewis, 70. 

Algiers : U. S. vessels captured, 
26 ; U. S. policy in regard to 
captives, 27 ; Washington's 
message, 28 ; truce with Por- 
tugal, 30 ; U. S. vessels cap- 
tured, 31 ; cost of treaty, 50 ; 
Bainbridge ordered to Con- 
stantinople by Dey, 72 ; 
trouble renewed, 216. 

Alliance, frigate, 24, 25. 

Alwyn, John C, sailing-master, 
143 ; wounded, 161 ; lieuten- 
ant, 176 ; dies of wounds, 185. 

Amazon, H. M. S., 87. 

America, line - of - battle - ship, 
presented to France, 25. 

Amory, Lieutenant, 67. 

-^olus, British frigate, 147. 

Argus, brig, at Gibraltar, 75 ; at 
Syracuse, 87. 



Armament, underrating of Brit- 
ish and U. S. frigates, 6. 

Armstrong, John D., surgeon's 
mate, 143, 176. 

Atlantic, map, 146. 

Badger, O. C, commands Con- 
stitution, 238. 

Bainbridge, William, receives 
orders from Dey of Algiers, 
72 ; portrait, 72 ; commands 
Philadelphia, 75 ; captures 
Moorish cruiser, 84 ; sur- 
renders Philadelphia, 89 ; 
commands Constitution, 175 ; 
medal awarded him, picture 
of, 198 ; commands expedition 
against Algiers, 216. 

Baker, F. H., commands Con- 
stitution, 239. 

Baldwin, Thomas, midshipman, 
70. 

Ballard, Henry, lieutenant, 
196 ; takes possession of 
Levant, 203. 

Baltimore, sloop, sailors re- 
moved by British, GQ. 

Barbary States discover U. S. 
flag, 26. 

Barron, Samuel, succeeds Preble 
at Tripoli, 115. 

Barry, John, commodore, 60. 



254 



INDEX 



Bastard, Captain, 146. 

Baury, Frederick, midshipman, 
143, 176. 

Beale, Richard C, lieutenant, 
59. 

Beatty, Thomas A., midship- 
man, 143, 176. 

Beeeher, L, S., carves figure of 
Andrew Jackson, 221. 

Belcher, John A., midshipman, 
143, 176. 

Belvidera, British frigate, 
chased by President, 144 ; use 
of kedge, 149. 

Bentley, tsamuel, hoists the first 
flag on the Constitution, 59. 

Berkeley, Vice-Admiral, order 
to search Chesapeake for de- 
serters, 123. 

Betsy, brig, 168. 

Billet, picture of, 222. 

Boarding, 16. 

Bolton, W. C, commands Con- 
stitution, 233. 

Bonne Citoyenne, British ship, 
and Hornet, 176. 

Broke, Captain, sends challenge 
to Captain Lawrence, 141. 

Burrows, William, midshipman, 
70. 

Bush, William T., lieutenant 
of marines, 143 ; killed, 161. 

Byron, Captain, letter, 152, 153. 

Byron, Lord, visits Constitution, 
217. 

Caldwell, James R., killed, 106. 
Campbell, Hugh G., commands 

Constitution, 120. 
Cape Race, 156. 
Captives, American, in Algiers, 

26, 27. 



Carey, Richard, midshipman, 70. 

Carleton, John, chaplain, 176. 

Carmick, Captain, 67. 

Carronade, 13, 14 ; picture of, 
20. 

Castiue, fortifications, 77. 

Chads, Henry, D., lieutenant of 
Java, 184 ; offers medical as- 
sistance to Constitution in 
China, 187. 

Charleston, British ship, de- 
stroyed by French, 54. 

Chauncey, Captain, commands 
John Adams, 110. 

Cheever, John, 186. 

Chesapeake, frigate, authorized, 
32 ; attacked by Leopard, 123, 
124. 

Chew, Thomas J., purser, 143. 

Claghorn, George, naval con- 
structor, 48. 

Clark, Lemuel, lieutenant of 
marines, 59. 

Claxton, Commodore, commands 
Constitution, 229 ; dies on 
board, 230. 

Clearing ship for action, 17. 

Cochrane, Sir Thomas, squadron 
of, asks supplies of Constitu- 
tion, 233. 

Coggeshall's " American Priva- 
teers," 168. 

Collier, Sir George Ralph, com- 
mands British squadron, 209, 
210. 

Columbiad, 14. 

Congress, frigate, authorized, 
32 ; dismasted, 41. 

Constellation, frigate, launch, 
55 ; in War of Reprisal, 61 ; 
shut up in Norfolk, 216. 

Constitution, frigate, picture of, 



INDEX 



255 



frontispiece ; earronade from, 
picture of, 20 ; authorized, 
32 ; model, 38, picture of, 44 ; 
performance, 39 ; batteries, 
43, 44 ; sail-plan, picture of, 
52 ; first launch a failure, 56 ; 
ready for launching-, picture 
of, 58 ; successful launch, 
58, picture of, 64 ; at sea for 
first time, 60 ; race with Brit- 
ish ship, 65 ; Edward Preble 
commands, 69 ; arrives at 
Gibraltar, 75 ; at Syracuse, 
87 ; berth-deck, gun-deck, 
ward-room, views of, 88 ; in 
war with Tripoli, 87-117 ; 
compared with British frig- 
ates, 136-138 ; meets British 
fleet off New Jersey, 145 ; 
location of battles, 147 ; 
chase, 147-153, diagram of, 
148 ; use of kedge, 148 ; action 
with Guerri^re, 158-163, pic- 
tures of, 156, 162, 170; dia- 
gram of, 159 ; action with 
Java, 181-184, pictures of, 
186, 194, diagram of, 179; 
at Singapore, 187 ; escapes 
from British ships into 
Marblehead, 191-193, dia- 
gram of, 191 ; action with 
Cyane and Levant, 199-201, 
diagram of, 199 ; escapes from 
British fleet at Port Praya, 
210-212, diagram of, 211 ; re- 
built, 220 ; figureheads, pic- 
tures of, 222 ; aids British 
ships, 233 ; at Naval Acad- 
emy, 234 ; rebuilt, 237 ; hun- 
dredth anniversary of launch, 
239; at Boston Navy Yard, 
19.00, views of, 236, 240, 242 ; 



plan to restore, 240 ; compared 
with Monitor, 241-242. 

Contee, John, lieutenant of ma- 
rines, 143, 176. 

Cooper, James Fenimore, story 
of sailor supposed to be 
killed, 205, 206. 

Corsair, picture of, 119. 

Crane, William M., prisoner on 
British ship, 153. 

Crescent, frigate, sails for Al- 
giers, 71. 

Crews, overcrowding on sailing- 
vessels, 18 ; disease on sailing- 
vessels, 19 ; fixed by Congress, 
45. 

Cross, Joseph, midshipman, 143, 
176. 

Cummings, John C, midship- 
man, 176. 

Curtis, Sir Roger, 128. 

Cyane, British frigate, action 
with Constitution, 199-201, 
diagram of, 199; surrenders, 
202 ; arrives New York, 213. 

Cyane and Levant, batteries of, 
compared with those of Con- 
stitution, 204. 

Dacres, James R., commands 
Guerri^re, 145 ; surrenders to 
Hull, 162 ; challenge to U. S. 
frigates, 165 ; visits Constitu- 
tion at Malta, 215. 

Dale, Richard, commands squad- 
ron in Mediterranean, 74. 

Davis, John, midshipman, 70. 

Deacon, David, midshipman, 70. 

Decatur, Stephen, commands 
Enterprise, 75 ; burns the 
Philadelphia, 94 ; saved by a 
seaman, 105 ; transferred to 



256 



INDEX 



Constitution, 116; commands 
ten ships against Algiers, 216. 

Decatur, privateer, 157. 

Deck-plan of a ship on star- 
board tack, 23. 

Dent, John H., lieutenant, 70. 

Dewey, George, commands Con- 
stitution, 236. 

Dewey, Samuel W., mutilates 
figurehead of Constitution, 
225. 

Dexter, Daniel S., midshipman, 
70. 

Dghies, Sidi Mahomet, minister 
of Dey of Algiers, 118. 

Diagrams and maps : deck-plan 
of a ship on starboard tack, 
23 ; Mediterranean ports, 87 ; 
Tripoli Harbor, 97; location of 
battles, 147 ; action, Constitu- 
tion and Guerri^re, 159 ; Con- 
titution and Java, 179 ; chase 
into Marblehead Harbor, 191 ; 
action, Constitution, Cyane, 
and Levant, 199; escape at 
Port Praya, 211. 

Diet in the U. S. Navy, 19, 20. 

Directory, French, 54. 

Donnegal, H. M. S;, 79. 

Dorsey, John, killed, 106. 

Douglas, George, the Honorable, 
commands Levant, 199, 202 ; 
surrenders to Stewart, 203. 

Douglass, Sir Howard, naval 
gunnery, 136. 

Dulany, James W., midship- 
man, 143, 176. 

Dundonald, Lord, on treatment 
of British seamen, 21. 

Eaton, General, on loss of In- 
trepid, 114. 



Elbert, Samuel, lieutenant, 70. 

Elliott, Jesse D., abuse of, 222 ; 
figurehead of Constitution, 
221-227 ; court-martialed, 
229. 

Emmons , ' ' Statistical History, ' ' 
38. 

Enlistment of sailors, 22. 

Enterprise, schooner, captures 
corsair, 74 ; at Gibraltar, 75. 

Eskridge, Alexander, midship- 
man, 143, 176. 

Essex, frigate, 177. 

Evans, 'Amos A., surgeon, 143, 
176. 

Exchange Coffee-House, notice 
by Captain Hull, 154. 

Falcon, Gordon Thomas, com- 
mands Cyane, 199, 201 ; sur- 
renders to Stewart, 202. 

Field, Ambrose D., midship- 
man, 143, 176. 

Figurehead, Andrew Jackson, 
221-227 ; picture of, 222. 

Flag, U. S., first on the Consti- 
tution, 59. 

Foreigners in Navy, 82. 

Forrest, Dulaney, midshipman, 
176. 

France, treaty with, 69. 

Freeman, William H., lieuten- 
ant of marines, 176. 

French, William, 77. 

Frigates : as cruisers, 4 ; descrip- 
tion of, 5, 6 ; section of a 
frigate, illustration of, 38 ; 
dimensions of British 38-gun, 
40 ; British, modeled after 
U. S. ships, 43 ; delay in 
building, 50. 

Frolic, British sloop, 10. 



INDEX 



257 



Gadsen, Christopher, midship- 
man, 70. 

George Washington, frigate, 72, 
73. 

German, Lewis, midshipman, 
143, 176. 

Ghent, Treaty of, 197. 

Gilliam, Henry, midshipman, 
143. 

Goldshorough, " Naval Chron- 
icle," 45. 

Gordon, Charles, lieutenant, 70. 

Gordon, William L., midship- 
man, 143, 176. 

Granary Building, sails of Con- 
stitution, 49. 

Gravi^re, Jurien de la, 249. 

Great Biitain, war declared 
against, 132 ; preponderance 
upon the seas, 135. 

Greenlaw, James, midshipman, 
143, 176. 

Grijffin, Allen, midshipman, 143. 

Grog, 21. 

Guerri^re, British frigate, action 
with Constitution, 158-163, 
diagram of, 159, pictures of, 
156, 162, 170; surrenders, 
162 ; destroyed by explosion, 
165. 

Guns, training and handling, 9 ; 
pictures of, 30 ; sights, 10 ; 
firing, 12 ; dimensions, 13 ; 
long, 13, 14 ; types, 13, pic- 
tures of, 20 ; captured by 
Constitution, 215. 

Gun-drill, pictures of, 30. 

Gwynn, John, commands Con- 
stitution, 233. 

Hall, Francis C, midshipman, 
70. 



Haraden, Nathaniel, master, 70 ; 
repairs Constitution, 131. 

Harris, Isaac, builds masts for 
the Constitution, 49. 

Hartford, U. S. steam sloop, 33. 

Hartley, assistant to Colonel 
Claghorn, 48. 

Hartt, Edmund, builder of Con- 
stitution, 48. 

Hartt's Naval Yard, 48. 

Haswell, John M., midshipman, 
70. 

Havannah, British frigate, de- 
serter from, 128. 

Haymarket Theatre, " The 
Launch of the Constitution," 
57. 

Henderson, Archibald, captain 
of marines, 197. 

Henley, Robert, midshipman, 
70, 105. 

Hercules, statue of, first figure- 
head of Constitution, 221. 

Hislop, Lieutenant-General, 185. 

Hixon, Samuel C, sailing-mas- 
ter, 197. 

Hodgkinson, John, 57. 

Hoffman, Lieutenant Beekman 
v., 143, 176, 196 ; sent on board 
Cyane, 202 ; brings home Le- 
vant, 213. 

Hogan, Daniel, 171. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, public 
sentiment aroused by poem, 
219, 220. 

Hornet, sloop, and the Bonne 
Citoyenne, 178. 

Howitzer, brass, captured from 
Tripoli, picture of, 20. 

Hull, Isaac, lieutenant, 59 ; cuts 
out Sandwich, (j(i ; commands 
Argus, 75 J commands Con- 



258 



INDEX 



stitution, 125 ; portrait, 140 ; 
leaves Boston without orders, 
155 ; receives surrender of 
Guerri^re, 162 ; medal award- 
ed, picture of, 174 ; dinner in 
Boston, 173. 

Humble, James, 186. 

Humphreys, David, minister to 
Portugal, 29 ; negotiates with 
Algiers, 30 ; obtains a treaty, 
50. 

Humphreys, Joshua, makes 
plans for new ships, 32 ; ap- 
pointed naval constructor, 33 ; 
letter to Robert Morris, 34- 
37 ; design of ships, 41 ; ap- 
proves heavy batteries, 43 ; 
report on progress of ships, 
49. 

Hunnewell, Leonard, midship- 
man, 70. 

Hunter, William M., lieuten- 
ant, 197. 

Impressment of seamen, 82, 138 ; 

not mentioned in treaty, 214. 
Independence, line-of-battle- 

ship, 194. 
Intrepid, description of, 95 ; 

blown up, 112. 
Israel, Joseph, midshipman, 70 ; 

lieutenant. 111. 
Izard, Ralph, midshipman, 70. 

Jackson, Andrew, President, 

figurehead for Constitution, 

221, picture of, 222. 
Jackson, Henry, naval agent for 

Constitution, 48. 
Jamaica fleet, 144. 
Java, British frigate, captured 

from French, 136 ; meets 



Constitution, 180 ; action, 
180-184, diagram of, 179, 
pictures of, 186, 194 ; sur- 
renders, 184 ; destroyed, 186 ; 
effect of loss on British, 189. 

Jenks, William C, lieutenant, 
70. 

John Adams, frigate, at Gib- 
raltar, 75 ; arrives at Tripoli, 
107. 

Johnson, P. C, commander, 
tows Constitution out of 
Newport, 236. 

Jones, Captain Jacob, commands 
Constitution, 216. 

Kedge, 148, 149. 

Ketch, man-of-war, picture of, 

113. 
Knox, Henry, Secretary of War, 

32. 

Lambert, Henry, commands 
Java, 182 ; mortally wounded, 
17, 182. 

Lawrence, James, challenge 
from British captain, 178. 

Laws, Alexander, midshipman, 
70. 

Leander, British frigate, 210. 

Lear, Tobias, consul-general to 
Barbary States, 69 ; conversa- 
tion with Preble, 81 ; landed 
at Algiers, 87. 

Lee, Benjamin, lieutenant, 59. 

Levant, British sloop, 5 ; action 
with Constitution, 199-203, 
diagram of, 199 ; surrenders 
to Constitution, 203 ; recap- 
tured, 214. 

Leverett, George H., midship- 
man, 176. 



INDEX 



259 



Lewis, William, midshipman, 
70. 

Lincoln, William, suggests cut- 
ting off of figurehead, 224. 

Line-of -battle-ships, description, 
1 ; picture of, 10. 

Long, John C, midshipman, 
176. 

Lord Nelson, British merchant- 
ship, captured by Constitu- 
tion, 197. 

Ludlow, Robert C, purser, 170. 

McCarthy, William D.^ midship- 
man, 176. 

McCauley, D. S., consul-gen- 
eral, 233. 

McCauley, Constitution Stewart, 
born on board Constitution, 
233. 

Macdonough, Thomas, midship- 
man, 70 ; captain, commands 
Constitution, 217. 

Magnifique, French ship lost in 
Boston Harbor, 25. 

Maidstone, H. M. S., 79. 

Marine, Massachusetts State, 77. 

Martin, Captain Knott, 193. 

Mathurins assist in release of 
captives, 27. 

Mayo, Isaac, commodore, com- 
mands Constitution, 234. 

Medals, pictures of : Preble, 108 ; 
HuU, 174; Bainbridge, 198, 
Stewart, 214. 

Mediterranean ports, map of, 
87. 

Melville, Lord, 135. 

Merrimac, U. S. steam sloop, 33. 

Meshouda, Moorish cruiser, cap- 
tured by Enterprise, 84. 

Minister, French, recalled, 53. 



Mirboka, Moorish cruiser, cap- 
tured by Philadelphia, 84. 

Monitor, the forerunner of 
modern battleships, 43. 

Morgan, Charles W., midship- 
man, 143 ; lieutenant, 176. 

Morgan, John T., sent to select 
timber for new frigates, 48. 

Morocco, treaty with, 51, 85 ; 
broken by Emperor, 84. 

Morris, Charles, experience in 
the Congress, 41 ; midship- 
man, 70 ; incident connected 
with Preble, 78, 79 ; portrait, 
130 ; lieutenant, wounded, 
161. 

Morris, Robert, letter from Mr. 
Humphreys to, 35. 

Morris, R, V., commands squad- 
ron in Mediterranean, 74. 

Nautilus, brig, captured by 
British, 153. 

Nautilus, schooner, at Gibraltar, 
75. 

Naval Armament provided, 32. 

"Naval Chronicle," 45. 

Naval Yard, Hartt's, 48. 

Navy, Continental, sold, 24 ; 
methods of constructing ships, 
47 ; lack of system, 61 ; 
foolish policy of government 
toward, 121 ; inactivity of, 
218 ; incidents of old, 232. 

Navy Department established, 
54. 

Nelson, Lord, his definition of 
a frigate, 4; killed by a 
shot from the top, 17 ; his 
opinion of U. S. squadron, 
23; his opinion of Decatur's 
act, 98. 



260 



INDEX 



Neptune, figiire of, figurehead 
of Constitution, 221. 

Neutrality, violation of U. S., 
52, 53. 

New York, frigate, at Gibraltar, 
75. 

Newcastle, British frigate, 210. 

Nichols, John, sailing-master, 
176. 

Nicholson, James, midshipman, 
70. 

Nicholson, Samuel, inspector of 
Constitution, 48 ; disappointed 
in connection with first flag, 
59 ; in command, 60. 

Nissen, Nicholas, assists Amer- 
icans' correspondence, 94. 

Nixon, Z. W., midshipman, 176. 

O'Brien, Richard, captive in 
Algiers, 31 ; consul-general 
to the Barbary States, 72. 

Oak, Constitution, 48. 

Officers, appointments and pro- 
motion, 62 ; grades, 63 ; re- 
duction of numbers, 63. 

" Old Ironsides," 41, 164 ; popu- 
larity of, 190 ; condemned by 
Secretary of the Navy, 218; 
toasted by British officers, 
233. 

Ordnance of 1800, picture of, 20. 

Orne, William B., journal, 168- 
170. 

Packett, John, midshipman, 176. 
Parker, FoxhaU, A., captain, 

commands Constitution, 230. 
Parker, George, lieutenant, 

176. 
Patterson, Daniel T., captain, 

commands Constitution, 217. 



Pay of navy, 46. 

Percival, John, captain, com- 
mands Constitution, 230 ; 
events in life of, 231. 

Philadelphia, frigate, at Gibral- 
tar, 75 ; loss of, 88 ; crew of, 
employed on Tripolitan forti- 
fications, 93 ; difficulty of ap- 
proaching, 96, 97 ; attack on 
and burning of, 97, 98, 99. 

Pickering, revenue vessel, 77. 

Port Praya, escape of Constitu- 
tion at, diagram of, 211. 

Porter, David, good health of 
his crew, 21 ; his cruise in the 
Pacific, 177. 

Porter, David D., lieutenant- 
commander, 234. 

Porto Plata, 66. 

Portugal, convoy for U. S. ships, 
30. 

Powder, handing up, illustra- 
tion of, 161. 

Preble, Edward, commands Con- 
stitution, 69 ; fleet the nursery 
of the Navy, 76; life of, 
77 ; portrait, 80 ; inadequate 
means for war on Tripoli, 81 ; 
secures Straits of Gibraltar, 
84; letter to consul at Tan- 
gier, 86 ; letter to Bainbridge, 
89; and Decatur, story of, 
104 ; medal awarded, picture 
of, 108; bombards Tripoli, 
108 ; leaves Constitution, 116. 

President, frigate, authorized, 
32 ; chases Belvidera, 144. 

Protector, 26-gun ship, 77. 

Raking, 12, 

Range, estimate of, 15, 16. 

Read, George C, lieutenant, 



INDEX 



261 



143, 162, 165; takes posses- 
sion of the Guerri^re, 162 ; 
commands Constitution, 217. 

Reed, Heathcote J., midship- 
man, 70. 

Reed, William, lieutenant of 
marines, 59. 

Reprisals, ag-ainst French, 60. 

Revenue cutters, 60. 

Revere, Paul, supplies copper 
for Constitution, 49. 

Robinson, Thomas, lieutenant, 
70. 

Ridgely, Charles G., midship- 
man, 70. 

Rodgers, George W., lieuten- 
ant-commander, takes Con- 
stitution out of roads, 235. 

Rodgers, John, commands 
squadron, 14 ; and in Mediter- 
ranean, 74 ; waives seniority 
at Tangier, 85 ; calls for 
volunteers to meet British, 
175. 

Rowe, John, midshipman, 70. 

Rudd, John, captain, commands 
Constitution, 234. 

Russell, Charles, first lieu- 
tenant, 59. 

Sailors, foreigners in the U. S. 
Navy, 22 ; American, suffer- 
ing in West Indies, 53 ; Brit- 
ish and American, unfriendli- 
ness of, 206, 207. 

Sally, sloop, 67. 

Salter, William D., midshipman, 
143. 

Salvadore, Catalano, sailing- 
master, 95. 

Sandwich, French letter -of 
marque, captured, 00. 



Sawyer, Vice-Admiral, 165. 

Seamen, enlistment of, 63. 

Secretary of War, report on 
frigates, 51. 

Sever, James, christens Con- 
stitution, 58. 

Shannon, British frigate, 147. 

Shepard, E. U., commander, 
commands Constitution, 239. 

Shot, variable weight of, 15. 

Shubrick, John T,, lieutenant, 
143, 176. 

Shubrick, William B., lieuten- 
ant, 197, 208. 

Siren, brig, at Gibraltar, 75 ; 
convoy of Intrepid, 95, 96. 

Skillings Brothers, carvers of 
figurehead, 49. 

Sloop, description, 5. 

Sloop-of-war, picture of, 4. 

Sloop-of-war, illustration of sec- 
tion of, 38. 

Smith, John, commands Vixen, 
75. 

Somers, Richard, commands 
Nautilus, 75 ; killed at Trip- 
oli, 112. 

Spence, Robert T., midship- 
man, bravery in action, 106. 

Splinters, 15. 

Squadrons, U. S., to patrol the 
coast, 60. 

Stanton, 0. F., captain, com- 
mands Constitution, 239. 

Stevens, B. F., 187. 

Stewart, Charles, commands Si- 
ren, 75 ; commands Consti- 
tution, 190 ; destroys Pictou, 
190 ; learns of Treaty of 
Ghent, 197 ; captures Cyane 
and Levant, 199-202 ; por- 
trait, 204 ; saves Constitution 



262 



INDEX 



from capture, 208-212 ; 
medal awarded him, picture 
of, 214 ; arrives in New York, 
213. 

Stoddert, Benjamin, first Secre- 
tary of the Navy, 54. 

Strahan, Sir Richard, 79. 

Syracuse, port of deposit, 83. 

Talbot, Silas, in command of 
Constitution, 61 ; report on 
capture of Sandwich, 66. 

Tarbell, Joseph, lieutenant, 70. 

Tayloe, John, midshipman, 143. 

Taylor, William V., midship- 
man, 143, 176 ; lieutenant, 
197 ; scuttles the Lord Nel- 
son, 197. 

Thayer, Edmund, builds gun- 
carriages of Constitution, 48. 

Thompson, John, midshipman, 
70. 

Toasts to the Navy, 173. 

Tonnage measurement, 8. 

Townsend, Captain, 147. 

Treatment of men in U. S. 
Navy, 21. 

Tribute to Barbary States, 28. 

Tripoli, crowded with slaves, 
28 ; cupidity of, aroused by 
treaty with Algiers, 71 ; letter 
from Dey to President Adams, 
73 ; American flagstaff cut 
down, 74; officers under 
Preble at, 80 ; coast imfavor- 
able to blockade, 83 ; declared 
in state of blockade, 86; 
harbor of, diagram, 97 ; for- 
midable defenses of, 101 ; at- 
tacks, first, 102 ; second, 106 ; 
third, 108 ; fourth, 109 ; fifth, 
110 ; sketch of fortifications 



at, 111 ; attack on fortifica- 
tions, picture of, 100 ; treaty, 
117. 

Trippe, John, lieutenant, 105. 

Tunis, crowded with slaves, 28 ; 
Dey demands gifts, 74; 
treaty signed at, 120. 

Turner, Daniel, commands Con- 
stitution, 229. 

United States, frigate, author- 
ized, 32 ; at Gibraltar, 75 ; 
shut up in New London, 193 ; 
seized at Norfolk, 235. 

Vallette, Elia A. F., commands 

Constitution, 217. 
Virginia, State, arms two vessels, 

25. 
Vixen, schooner, at Gibraltar, 

75 ; out of provisions, 91. 

Wadsworth, Alexander S., 
Lieutenant, 143. 

Wadsworth,Henry, midshipman, 
70; sketch by, 111; lieuten- 
ant, 111 ; killed, 112. 

War of 1812, 132. 

War of reprisal against France, 
55. 

War vessels, illustrations of, sec- 
tions of, 38. 

Ward, Henry, midshipman, 176. 

Wasp, U. S. sloop, 10. 

Washington, President, report 
on Algiers, 28 ; authorizes 
the building of six ships, 32 ; 
fundamental reasons for build- 
ing a navy, 52. 

Weather gauge, 11. 

West Indies, suffering of Ameri- 
can sailors, 53. 



INDEX 



263 



Wharf, Constitution, 48. 

Williams, J. F., 77. 

Winter, Richard, midshipman, 

176 ; lieutenant, 197. 
Winthrop, ship, 77. 



Wish, John A., midshipman, 
170. 

Yeates, Donaldson, surgeon's 
mate, 143. 



EUctrotyPed and printed by H. O. Houghton &> Co. 
Cambridge, Mass., U.S. A. 



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